Two Truths and a Lie
by grayfox11738
Summary: Two outcasts find each other and discovered, through stupid games and starry rooftop conversations and lingering touches, that in a world filled with chaos, it's okay to need each other. Though nothing in their world is that simple.
1. Two Truths and a Lie

**Two Truths and a Lie**

* * *

There was a mild breeze blowing around the open courtyard of the Western Air Temple, but the tension in the air was still thick enough to cut with a pair of chopsticks. It was evident in the upward pull of Sokka's lean shoulders, in Aang's unsteady foot scuffing and pacing. In the way that Appa remained suspiciously silent in his favorite corner. Animals had a way of sensing these things, perhaps better than most people could. Toph knew all about the introspective and understanding quality of even the largest beasts; she'd experienced it firsthand, after all.

Katara was moving from task to task erroneously, not quite completing one before jumping to her feet and transitioning to the next, swinging her head (and, Toph presumed, her long thick hair) behind her in a self-important fashion. Toph knew Katara let her looks empower her, that she used them as a second skin, an armour. Most women did. But Katara betrayed the patented ferocious attitude by looking over her shoulder every minute or so, checking the rounded archway that lead to where Toph knew Zuko sat in his room. If he would be emerging at all, it would be from that hallway.

Of course, Toph could have given Katara more than enough warning that Zuko was coming. She had subconsciously concentrated on his movements throughout the day, memorizing the surprisingly light footfalls and how he paced the boundaries of the small room Sokka had dumped him into earlier. But Toph was a reasonable human, and of course every reasonable human would rather delight in watching Katara's harassed, repetitive checking than disclose any such valuable information.

Toph, in contrast to her friends, was feeling quite pleased with herself, laying back on an elevated stone throne she'd carved and hoping that Katara got a crick in her neck tomorrow. Of course, she'd grown to tolerate and enjoy and- dare she say it?- love the Waterbender in her months with their gang, but Toph was also resolute in their need of the Firebender and she was glad that Katara's weird grudge, the one that caused her heartbeat to spike ferociously when she was in the same room as Zuko, was given a side seat in their decision.

Katara, apparently deciding the morning's dishes had been washed enough, approached Toph's imposing seat and stood over her with her arms crossed. Toph carefully angled her unseeing eyes to where the girl's face probably was- a habit she'd had forced into her from her manners coach at the Beifong estate- and cocked a brow.

"Can I help you, Sugar Queen? I've got a lot going on right now." She clenched a hand and began to bend a carving in the headboard of the stone throne behind her. Maybe she could make it say 'fuck off' in a fancy script. She bit down on her bottom lip, concentrating. Perhaps her painstaking reading and writing lessons, taught from a raised script and much frustrated screaming on Toph's part, hadn't been for nothing after all.

Or maybe they had, because Katara didn't seem to notice the rapidly appearing carved profanity above Toph's head.

"I just wanted to tell you- you'll have to make another bowl. For dinner tonight."

"Ah," Toph grinned up at her. "Look at you playing hostess. Don't go trying to poison him now. At least no more than usual, okay?"

Toph reached down and extracted a large rock from the rubble left by Sokka's hero, the infamous Combustion Man, and dug her fingers into the delightfully rough material like clay until it resembled a bowl. Katara had made a habit of commissioning makeshift cooking apparatuses from

Toph, who had since crafted a set of rough stone bowls, an elevated metal sheet for firetop frying, and a spoon-shaped eating utensil when it became obvious The Duke had never learned how to use chopsticks.

Katara took the finished bowl from Toph and inspected it. "Wow, this is really nice, Toph!" She said.

Toph rolled her eyes. "You sound surprised. Like you assumed I've never interacted with a real bowl before."

"It's easy to forget, if I'm honest," Katara returned the jibe lightly. She moved her fingers across the smooth stone lip. "Why didn't you make the rest of them like this?"

"Just want to make our newest member feel at home. Since I'm the only one who's trying to at all, I've gotta put in more of an effort."

Katara's heart spiked in what Toph had learned long ago was mild annoyance. Fortunately, any possible retort was cut off by Sokka, who had been sharpening his battle-dulled boomerang with a whetstone, slouched against one of the remaining pillars.

"I've gotta hand it to you, Toph," he eyed the bowl in his sister's hands. "You really do know how to be domestic when you want to be, huh? Who would have thought?"

Toph grinned, pleased at the easy banter. "Let's just chock it up to a character flaw."

Later, the marginally-less-than-enticing smell of Katara's cooking wafted through the air and the boys came out of the woodwork, drawn to the promise of food. Well, all the boys except for one.

"Someone should get Zuko," Aang said as Katara handed him his dinner. Katara twitched at the name and dropped the bowl, and Aang fell to the ground to catch it before it spilled. "Sorry, Aang! Good catch!" Katara breathed. Her heartbeat was still wilder than normal, angry.

Aang's grin stretched his face so widely that even Toph felt the simpering smile. "You keep me on my toes!"

Toph rolled her eyes. Yech. "I'll get him," she volunteered, and stood quickly to pad down the stone hallway towards where she knew Zuko's room was.

She fisted a hand and slammed on the door four times. The door's hinge gave a resounding creak as he pushed it open. "Hey."

Now that he was closer to her, Toph allowed herself to get a better gauge of his form. The top of her head brushed his sternum and he was wide, steady, and carried his weight as if he were about to pick up and run at any moment; the light feel of a Firebender, the poised posture that suggested his royal status.

"Hey," Toph agreed. "I'm here to retrieve you for dinner."

"I'm not really hungry." His stomach gave a rumble and Toph felt a corner of her mouth lift in amusement.

"We're not so bad when you get to know us," she consoled through her smirk. "And sometimes, Katara's cooking is even edible. Though this might not be one of those nights. She's been distracted today, for some reason."

Toph turned from the doorway and began to walk back through the hallway. Zuko hesitated. "It's because of me," he said. Disappointment and resentment sounded fresh on his words.

Toph turned, mentally reprimanding herself for her style of sarcasm so effortless that it slipped from her tongue without the slightest lilt in her tone. He was much too serious to have caught it. "Of course it's because of you, Zuko," she said. "But I would bet there's only one thing you can do to make it any better. Now c'mon, I'm hungry. And you owe me, for burning my feet."

She smiled slightly as Zuko hesistated, then slowly followed her out of the enclosed hallway and towards the laughter and smell of food beyond.

After their first dinner together, Toph found Zuko sitting at the side of the temple, dangling a leg into the empty space beyond languidly and scratching Appa on the nose as the beast made a sort of contented purring rumble deep in his throat. Toph set herself down next to him, stretching her feet out, wiggling her toes contentedly when she felt him relax.

He checked behind him. The others were still sitting around the fire, talking amiably. They all seemed more relaxed than before. Food would do that, Toph thought. Even Katara's awful cooking.

"How did I do?"

Toph snorted. "Fine, Zuko. You've gotta get a lot more weird to stand out amongst the likes of them." She jabbed a thumb behind her shoulder in time for Sokka to make a horrible retching noise, accompanied by Haru and Aang's roaring laughter.

"It's not at all what I thought it would be."

"What were you expecting?"

"I have no idea." Zuko shifted slightly. "Aang is- a surprise. I guess I didn't realize that underneath everything, he's just a kid. Sokka is friendly, really friendly, and Katara-" Zuko huffed out a frustrated sigh. "She's just how I thought she would be, at least. And she treats me exactly the same as how she did when I was your enemy."

Toph furrowed her brow. Katara was not yet someone she had grown to understand. "Don't be an idiot, Zuko," she said. His heart jumped in surprise. "You've never been my enemy. What about the rest of us?"

Zuko shifted his weight a bit, to look at her. "You're alright." He seemed far more relaxed now, and the deep rumble of his own voice made the ground tremble in a fascinating way that Toph had only experienced in some older men. She settled closer to him, feeling the warmth radiating from his body. Deciding she liked his presence.

"I've got an idea," she said suddenly. "I've heard of this game the kids at my village used to play with each other. Two truths and a lie. Play with me."

Zuko's head turned towards her. "How do you play?"

"I think the idea is to say two truthful things about yourself, and one lie. And the other person has to guess which is which."

"Earth Kingdom culture is weird."

"Go ahead and tell me Fire Nation culture is any better, you freak!"

Zuko's heart picked up a little as he huffed out a silent laugh. "Alright, you've got a point. Let me think about my answer."

Toph threw herself on the ground beside him, dangling her legs off the edge as well. She coerced the stone to mold itself to her form, supporting her back and cupping around her thighs.

Zuko resumed his scratching of the bison's nose. "Do all Air Nomad animals have arrows on them?"

"Hmm. I don't think Momo does." At least, Aang had never mentioned it.

"The lemur? You named a lemur after a fruit?"

"Hey, I wasn't there at the time! It is not my fault what those imbeciles did before I joined the group." Toph insisted. "What Sokka and Twinkletoes do with their pets is their own weird business."

Appa grunted his assent beside them, ever the expert on such matters.

"So you've never seen any other Air Nation animals other than these two?"

"I've never-" Toph cut herself off when realization struck her. Well, this would be interesting. "I'm ready to go now."

"Be my guest."

Toph counted them off on her fingertips. "One- I am the proud owner of the Earth Rumble Six victor's belt, which I've held onto for years now. Although I think Sokka may have stolen it from me again, the desperate sap.

"Two, I was kidnapped by the Avatar so that I could teach him Earthbending. Quite a rude way to make a ride-or-die friend, if you ask me. Stolen from my humble beginnings for greatness. But it worked, so there you go.

"And three," Toph took in a little, steadying breath. She'd never actually told anybody this before. Nobody had been idiot enough to not realize it, frankly. "I'm completely, totally, irrevocably blind in both eyes."

Zuko snorted beside her. "Well, it's got to be that one," he said, more to himself than to her. And then, Toph felt a spike of his heartbeat as realization struck him. She turned her head to him, defiantly, wondering if he could see her eyes at all through her thick, obscuring hair. She felt him lean forward towards her, extending an arm.

His warm fingers brushed Toph's brow, gathering up silken strands of her hair and pushing them aside lightly. Toph shivered at their heat but remained, defiant and amused, training her eyes to where she thought Zuko's would be. She blinked them innocently, wishing at that moment more than anything that she could see what he was as he examined her quietly.

"Agni," he breathed softly into her face. Toph inhaled in the scent of dark leafy tea lingering on his breath. She flashed a large grin up at him. "You're an anomaly, you know that?" Zuko asked.

"Thank you." Her grin widened. "So now that I've set you straight on your first guess, what's your next one?"

"Oh." Zuko leaned away from her again, propping himself on his arms. Appa made an insistent noise, and Zuko resumed his nose-scratching. "I guess the Avatar didn't kidnap you, then?"

Toph laughed. "Of course he didn't! You think someone like me could be kidnapped by anyone? I mean, it almost happened once. But I was just too good for them." She stretched her fingers, cracking some of the joints in satisfaction.

"But you're tiny, Toph."

"Hey!" She jabbed a finger into his face. "I prefer deceptively sized, thank you."

"So, how does it work?" Zuko's voice was warm, as if he were smiling at her. "Your ability to fight so well, I mean. Despite- everything."

"I feel the vibrations in the earth," Toph answered, enjoying his awkwardness. I can tell where everything is that way. At least, if it's touching the ground. Momo keeps sneaking up on me, the little rat. Because he flies most of the time."

"Hmm." Zuko murmured, analytically. Toph felt his face turn towards her again and linger for a long while. "Yep, still an anomaly."

She punched him in the arm. "It's your turn, Zuko."

He rubbed the sore spot contemplatively. "Let's see," he said, touching his fingers to the ground as he counted off his own. Toph felt an immediate rush of gratitude. "One, this is the first time in my life that I haven't been destined to be Fire Lord. Two, I spent years at sea on a tiny ship with my uncle." He swallowed. "Three, I was once smuggled away from bounty hunters in a large ceramic pot."

Toph gave a great shout of laughter at the last and Zuko jerked in surprise. "Where was your uncle for that?"

"He was in a second pot right next to me, of course."

Toph laughed even harder, feeling tears well up behind her eyes, slumping back to the stone floor beneath them.

"What's so funny?" Zuko was definitely smiling now. His voice had a happy lilt to it.

"Just-" Toph huffed out between giggles- "The prince of the Fire Nation and his esteemed and chubby uncle! Smuggled away from bad guys in large flower pots! I can't imagine. But then again, I totally can!"

Zuko chuckled quietly next to her. "So what's your guess, then?"

"Oh, the first one. Obviously."

"Obviously?"

Toph snorted. "There are befits to being able to feel vibrations in the ground, you know. Like feeling heartbeats. And one's visceral reaction to lying."

"I can't believe it," Zuko said. "You convinced me to play this game with you when you were cheating all along?" He sounded good natured enough, and Toph grinned her wide grin again.

"Have you ever wondered how we keep escaping from all those awful situations? How even

those idiots-" she gestured behind her- "escaped from you? It's because we cheat. Welcome to Team Avatar, Zuko." She stood, stretching, and touched her fingers to his shoulder lightly in farewell, walking back towards the heat of the fire.

* * *

"Why won't she even try to understand?!"

Zuko punctuated each word with a fiery blow of a fist to the wall of the Western Air Temple, rejoicing in the glorious sense of release from each punch. He watched the brilliant, colored fire, so different from his old bending, lick up each arm. He felt wonderfully, defiantly powerful, to be fueled by something that was not rage but frustration and the desperate need to prove himself, to simply be understood.

Katara's remarks at dinner had almost sent him boiling over. The insinuations that he was now a threat for their team, because he could bend again. Her petty smirks, the way the rest of the group cringed while she attacked him. Zuko didn't know which hurt worse; the insinuation that he was nothing without his flames- he'd managed pretty well for himself in Ba Sing Se with his beloved dao swords- or her persistent, flat-out refusal to see past his mistakes and to the person he had become. He jumped again at the wall, scorching it with a fiery kick that left his toes numb through his gold embossed boots. He tried to push away the nagging idea that underneath it all was the lingering fear that he would never again be good enough; never be accepted by them; never be able to crawl from the hole he'd dug for himself from stupid mistake after stupid mistake.

After dinner and a hurried clean-up, where Zuko had tried to suppress the smoking heat of his shaking palms, he'd wandered the temple carelessly until finding another in a long series of open rooms. Zuko had checked that there was nothing flammable (he couldn't imagine Aang's face if the boy caught him deliberately burning away pieces of Airbender culture), and had started training, hurling his new fire at the thick stone walls until his muscles ached and sweat rolled from his brow and down his naked torso. He'd lost track of how long he had been there.

"Damn, Sparky. What has the temple ever done to you?"

Zuko finally turned away from the significantly scorched stone, breathing heavily, shocked that he didn't hear the Earthbender approach. He figured Toph could be surprisingly quiet when she wanted to be, understanding and loving the element underfoot. He looked at her, still trembling from his outburst.

"_Sparky_?" he asked.

Toph aimed a grin at his face and padded over to him. "With how you assaulted that poor wall? I think 'Sparky' is pretty accurate."

Zuko bit his bottom lip and looked over at his victim. It was blackened, with large scorched streaks stretching out for feet in any direction. He turned away from it, sickened.

Toph waved a small, creamy hand dismissively. "Don't worry about the stupid wall. I can knock it out. Or maybe we keep it, for artistic value." She settled herself on the hard stone beneath her, tucking one leg neatly under the other.

"Artistic value?" Zuko settled next to her, shocked to feel the stone dip to take his weight and mold to his form. Damn, Earthbending was so useful sometimes.

Toph rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, you know. Like one day, after we've beaten the Fire Lord and become renowned war heroes, people will visit the Western Air temple in reverence; here's

where the Avatar slept, here's where Sparky wounded the greatest Earthbender of all time, here's where he proceeded to throw a fit when Katara was awful to him."

Zuko snorted. To anyone else, perhaps, he would have denied his motives behind needing to take out his anger. Katara carried a lot of influence with the group. Zuko noticed how Aang adored her, how Sokka would clearly do anything to protect her. Even Teo and Haru pinked in the cheeks when she was nearby. But Toph seemed the least affected by the Waterbender, and also had the frustrating ability to be completely immune to Zuko's own impassive act, reading other parts of him instead. It would make her ridiculously useful in political situations, if they all made it that far. His stomach dropped.

"Hey Toph," Zuko said suddenly, desperate to escape his current line of thought. "What's your last name?"

"What?" Toph jumped a little and Zuko felt a rush of pride that he, too, could take the little Earthbender by surprise. "What makes you think I have one?"

Zuko smirked. In the Fire Nation, citizens only had last names if they were part of a great family. A last name was a status symbol, a heightened class, a way to impress upon those introduced to you that you were to be feared and respected. He had figured the older traditions hadn't died out in the Earth Kingdom either, not with their legendary stubbornness.

Zuko eyed her. Toph's thick, shining black hair was styled upwards as always, exposing the nape of her neck. "Well, here, for one," he said, lifting a hand to the soft skin. Toph leaned into his hand, clearly anticipating it. "When you're not thinking about it, you fall into a stiff, upright posture. You'd never do it so instinctively unless it had been drilled into you as a child from some sort of manners coach." Zuko remembered his own none too fondly, the reprimands he would receive when he failed to act up to par, the physical lashings from his father upon receiving a bad report. He shuddered.

"And here-" he moved his hand to hers, crossed on a knee. Her upper hand twined itself through his, upon the touch. Zuko decided he liked it. "I was also taught how to place my hands, so that people couldn't read what I was really thinking. Trained impassivity to heighten the reverence of the future Fire Lord. And third, speaking of, you know words like reverence."

Toph shot a withering glare in his direction, and purposefully slumped her shoulders into a horrid posture. "You're so annoying, Sparky." Her hand remained in his. Zuko gave it a gentle squeeze. "It's Beifong," Toph said, heaving a great, resigned sigh. "Toph Beifong."

Zuko's brow furrowed. "I definitely think I've heard of the Beifong family," he said softly. "A long time ago, probably. Or maybe I traveled through your city at some point." Zuko figured that he'd missed quite a lot, when he was quite literally dying of hunger in the Earth Kingdom.

Toph grinned slightly. "I wouldn't be surprised if you'd visited. It sounds like you stalked Aang everywhere. You'd remember if you'd been to Earth Rumble Six, though." Her expression became a far-off look. Zuko watched the moonlight catch in her bleached eyes and illuminate them to a silver glow. She heaved a sigh. "I hate my parents. I hate them so much. I don't want a last name, or their estate, or their stupid legacy. As far as I'm concerned, I gave it up the minute I ran away to train Aang. I just want to be myself, now. I'm already better and stronger than they could ever have made me."

Zuko felt a rush of empathy for the girl beside him. She'd certainly picked the right person to speak with on the subject of horrible parents. He thought of Sokka and Katara, who clearly adored their father beyond words; of Aang, who was raised with many caring parental figures, even if they didn't agree on the best way to raise him. Aang had told Zuko about the premise of his

disappearance, as they flew back from the Sun Warrior ruins and were caught in a rainstorm. The rest of them couldn't quite understand what it was like to have their own parents hate, and desperately try to change, them. "You hate your parents?" He joked. "I wonder what that's like?"

They sat in silence for a while before Toph jumped up, hauling Zuko to his feet as well. "Alright. Let's go."

"Where are we going?"

Toph gave him a dangerously wide smile. "We are going to sleep, Sparky. Because tomorrow, I'm going to show you why I'm the greatest Earthbender of all time. And you'll need to rest as much as possible to even _try_ and keep up."

* * *

A/N: I found this story about two years ago like I did a few others but sadly they were taken down along with the original author. This story is one of the few that I loved so much that I had to re-release it for others to enjoy it much like I did. Nothing was written by me other than this note at the end.


	2. Catch Me if you Can

**Catch Me if you Can**

* * *

The following day dawned hot and humid and Toph took the time to stretch her unused muscles in the open air of their usual terrace. Katara was cooking, something heavy and warm that smelled suspiciously of Appa, but Toph chose to ignore it. Instead, she was focusing on stretching for what might be an actually challenging spar. She could, of course, beat Sokka with a few lazy flicks of her fingers. Aang went too easy on her, refusing to potentially hurt a friend. And her spars with Katara got too competitive too quickly, and usually ended with one of them screaming while the other stormed away. Between the two of them, Katara usually did the storming. While Toph trusted Zuko to not hurt her again, she also trusted him to not hold back.

Sleepy, lumbering footsteps and the smell of boy announced Sokka's arrival from his room. He stretched and yawned until his jaw popped, observing Toph in front of him. "And you're absolutely sure this is safe, Toph?" He asked tentatively. "Remember what the Jerkbender did to your feet last time."

Toph rolled her eyes at him. "For the twentieth time, I so sincerely appreciate your worrying, Sokka," she said in a way that hopefully conveyed the utmost insincerity, "But I can take care of myself. Even against an angry Jerkbender."

Sokka sat on the ground next to her, extending a foot to prod her toe with one of his own. "Are you sure, though? Just imagine if you come out of it looking like him!"

Toph hesitated in a lunge. "What do you mean?"

Katara let out a quite unladylike snort from her spot by the fire while Sokka's heartbeat stuttered. "La, damn it all," he muttered under his breath. "I keep forgetting you're blind."

"Wait, I'm blind? You don't say!"

"Wait, Toph's blind?" Came Aang's voice from behind them. He and Zuko padded into the room. Aang was wavering, clearly exhausted from his first day of real Firebender training. Zuko seemed steady, however. As if he'd spent the time sitting back and instructing. Aang did need a lot of it. "I had no idea! Is that why she keeps making jokes about it?"

"Oh!" Exclaimed Sokka. "Is that why your wrestling name had the word 'blind' in it?"

Toph grinned wickedly and fell down to the earth next to Sokka. "My biggest regret is that I won't be able to see Zuko's face when I kick his ass."

"You're not missing anything, Toph. Don't worry." Katara's snide voice caught Toph off guard as three heartbeats spiked quite uncomfortably in response. Toph narrowed in on Zuko's to find that he was trembling slightly, face trained towards the Waterbender.

Toph sat in silence as the tension in the air mounted, curious what would happen next, but Zuko didn't respond. Instead, he took three even, calming breaths and joined her and Sokka on their well-worn patch of ground. Toph reached out and wrapped her pinky finger around his. It would not do well for their spar, or probably anybody's mental health around here, if Zuko decided to waste his energy on Katara's monumental stubbornness. She smiled when he squeezed back, unhesitatingly.

The Western Air Temple, Aang explained to the group as they flew from the canyon on Appa, was a sacred spot reserved for Master Airbenders and trainees to learn the art and culture in

relative solitude. However, the rest of the Airbender colony lived only a short while away, detached while close enough to retreat if something went wrong. The colony included women in their birthing years, children born without the gift of bending, Air Nomads who simply decided they were not suited for temple life, and other ragtag members of whichever nation seeking out a freer and less materialistic existence. Appa set them down in one of these towns and Toph gratefully slid from his back to inspect it. There was an array of stone houses centered around a minute town square, and enough trees had been cleared away that Zuko wouldn't have to add burning down a forest to his already considerable list of things to feel guilty about.

Toph dug her toes into the soil underfoot, concentrating. The structures were made of predominately granite and wood, with metal roofing and large metal beams enforcing some of the larger houses. She grinned. Perfect.

She and Zuko took battle stances across the square from each other, while the rest of the group and Appa watched from a distance. "Scared, Toph?" He taunted lightly across the gap. Toph smirked in response.

Of course, he made the first move. Firebenders always did, Toph noted. An Earthbender could wait around all day for an opponent to strike, perfectly balanced on the edge of anticipation and action. Firebenders were too impatient for that. Zuko's first strike was a blast of prickling heat that Toph deflected easily with a wall of rock. She reached out, pulling his frontward foot into the stone, encouraging it into quicksand around him. But he jumped away lightly, too fast for such a simple trap.

Toph spun around, moving her makeshift shield with her as she traced Zuko's footsteps running through the square. A lunge from him translated into a blast of flames, and so on. Their moves were noncommittal and tentative; they were circling each other, learning each other in a way nights of talking certainly couldn't accomplish.

Zuko's next lunge brought a channel of flames crashing over her and Toph opened a wide rift in the earth to swallow her whole, moving through the dense material until she was underneath Zuko, feeling the fluttering of his pulse as he turned on the spot waiting for her to emerge.

She pushed upward through the shallow layer of rock between them and caught him with a blast of earth, noting how his shock turned into an acrobatic determination as he used the momentum to jump away from her. She ducked in time to feel the building behind her catch on fire from his rebuttal strike; the walls came down with a satisfying crumbling noise.

Toph shook the topmost layer of rock underneath Zuko with a minute flick of her fingers each time he was about to place a foot down. His bending seemed to come from a series of percussive stomping and breathing. All she needed to do was break the rhythm. With each tremble of the earth, Zuko was thrown even more off-balance. Finally, Toph felt his finger touch the ground as he steadied himself.

Right there. She ripped a large stone from underneath him, slamming it into his shoulder and flipping him onto his back as it rose into the air. Then, she allowed the chunks of stone to fall towards him, barreling towards the ground and his undefended form.

As she predicted, he sprang up and dodged neatly around the boulder. A snap of his fingers and intake of breath and the dry grasses around Toph's feet were on fire. There was a circle of heat growing tighter around her, closing her in. Toph's breath hitched as adrenaline surged through her; she knew the flames were there, and growing by the feel of the air and sweat beading her brow, but had no idea precisely how close they were.

"Toph!" Sokka screamed from their vantage point.

"She's okay Sokka, stop being such a drama queen!" Shouted back the wise, all-knowing Avatar beside him, gnawing on his nails.

Yes. She would be. Toph turned the rock beneath her into supple dirt and coated her body with it, rolling through the ring of flames to minimal pain. She formed a circular shield of rock around her as Zuko came barreling forward accompanied by a wall of heat, and shifted the ground underneath his light footfalls to offset his momentum again.

He was ready for her this time, though. An extremely quick learner, Toph thought, equal parts impressed and frustrated. His footfalls were so light, anticipating any wayward movement. Zuko maneuvered unpredictably, each step coming closer to her. He was looking to cut off the distance, Toph's primary advantage. He would be far more successful in close combat.

Toph felt rather than heard Zuko's breathing as he approached and with minimal strain she tore the ground upon which she was standing from the earth beneath it, using it to fling herself through the air and towards the village. She felt Zuko follow behind her, a frustrated twinge in his veins as she succeeded in putting distance between them again.

It became a game of dodging through roughly hewn houses, anticipating Zuko's next steps and remembering which houses had already caught on fire as she dove in and out of them. Toph managed to catch Zuko's foot in quicksand on her second attempt, spent too much time gloating, and nearly had an eyebrow singed off.

"What do you think you're playing at, Sparky?" Toph screamed at him as the fire tickled her face.

Zuko immediately hesitated. "Agni. Toph. I'm so sorry- I-"

She slipped through the window of the house, and with a quick downward motion of her wrist, it began to tumble down on him. "Gotcha."

Zuko roared and Toph felt the metal ceiling and rough stone walls fall backwards and away from him, propelled by a burst of protective fire. "I thought you would play fair!" he shouted as he followed Toph's path in quick pursuit.

"Really?" Toph screamed behind her. "What exactly have I done to encourage that line of thought? Tell me now so that I never make the same mistake again!"

A shout of laughter from Zuko alerted her to how close he was, and Toph immediately stopped, taking on a fighting stance. Stone molded itself around her form and Zuko barreled right into her, falling with a crunch. By the time he'd pulled himself up, Toph had run into the largest structure in the village.

She felt the space. It was a spacious, rounded communal house, most likely used for formal meetings- as formal as the Air Nation went, anyway- and group dinners. A metal and glass filigreed table, probably re-purposed from another nation, stood in the middle, and the usual heavy metal rafters were reinforced by thick wooden beams. Toph stepped onto the table, taking care to inhale and exhale as she felt for the earth beneath her.

With a rushing feeling, thousands of particles of dirt flew up into the air, hovering in each square inch of the air in the room. Toph had command of them all, could feel every change and rush of air pressure in the room. The technique was a new one she had been working on, for use against an Airbender or Firebender. Now was the chance to see if it worked.

Zuko burst through the door, breathing heavily, sending a blast of flames her way. Toph grinned; she felt the fire now, long ropes of the element catching in the hovering dirt and pushing towards

her. She finally understood the shape it took; amorphous yet structured, directable yet wild. For a moment, Toph's feeling of success was so great that she forgot the incoming threat.

And then instinctively, she ripped the metal from the glass table beneath her and willed it to encase her body. The filigree widened and solidified to become a fine, structured body suit. And as the flames hit her, Toph was greeted with a gentle warmth radiating through the material and the intoxicating idea that Zuko could send as many flames her way as he wanted; she'd never be hurt by them.

She was invincible.

"What the fuck?!" Zuko screamed from his spot at the doorway. He hurled flame after flame at her, and Toph ripped more metal from the rafters and channeled it towards him. Zuko roughly threw his body to the side to avoid the sharpened metal spikes piercing the air.

"You- you can-" he breathed.

"I told you Sparky," Toph laughed wildly. "Greatest. Earthbender. Of all time!"

The flames stopped. Zuko had stilled in front of her. And the wild beats of his heart contained something Toph couldn't identify, as she focused in on him once more. Fear, she decided. It must be fear. Toph grinned, and was about to say something else, when a horrible popping sounded behind her.

Toph couldn't bend or feel wood, but she could certainly identify the sound of centuries-old wooden pillars burning into nothingness. The centuries-old pillars that were also holding up the heavy ceiling. With a great crash, she felt them hit the ground beneath her, and a horrible groaning sensation was the only warning she received before the entire structure collapsed on top of them.

Toph coughed dust and ash from her lungs, and felt around. She was laying flat on her back. Hovering above her, having apparently leapt the length of the communal house, was Zuko. He was on his elbows and knees, body thrown over hers protectively.

And above him, of course, was the sheet of metal she had bent as protection from the collapsing stone and heavy rafters. Zuko groaned slightly. Toph felt his hot breath against her eyelashes.

"Are you okay?"

Toph wiggled her fingers and toes, assessing. "Not squished."

She felt his face stretch into a smile above her. "Not squished indeed."

Toph waved a hand and their protective shield fell away, bringing the heat of direct sunlight onto their bodies. Toph heard the screaming of their friends in the background, growing louder.

"Sparky, you can get off me now."

Zuko hesitated. Toph realized his face was still trained on hers and she angled hers towards him, curiously.

He raised a hand to her, and touched the brow he'd burnt through. Toph concentrated on the weirdly rapid thudding of his pulse. Tried to not notice hers matching the rhythm. He stayed quiet for another moment, seemingly thinking.

"Yep," Zuko breathed finally. "You're still an anomaly, Toph."

And then he was on his feet, pulling her up to hers as well, and they surveyed the chaos around them.

* * *

Zuko thought the Fire Nation warship made the canyon and temple look small in comparison, but he wouldn't trade its spot there for anything in the world. Not when it symbolized their successful escape from The Boiling Rock, and the newest members of their team.

They'd performed a thorough search of the vehicle- assisted by Toph's Metalbending, which Zuko was still wrapping his head around- and discovered a large stockpile of dry ingredients, a couple of fresh ones, and some bottles of amber liquid that caused Hakoda and Chit Sang's eyes to light in excitement.

It was a type of mead, Zuko assessed as he swirled the alcohol around a crudely cut stone cup. He'd certainly spent enough time around his uncle to know one drink from another. They had gathered around the fire and enjoyed a surprisingly good dinner together that evening, assisted by Suki's reasonable cooking skills and the stolen ship's food, and the fact that perhaps they were all too tipsy from Hakoda's insisted toasts to really be tasting much of anything, anyway.

Zuko's chest felt warm, and not just from the burning liquor that seemed to ignite a fire inside his belly and trickle to his extremities. While they ate, Hakoda had engaged Zuko in conversation on Fire Nation battle strategy, and thanked him sincerely for the rescue. Suki had sought him out as they cleaned, wondering if she might spar with him later; Kyoshi style, versus Zuko's dao swords. He was more than happy to comply. Chit Sang found him after that, squatting and clapping a heavy hand on Zuko's shoulder. "I know who you are," he said softly. "You're the prince of the Fire Nation." Zuko met the man's beady eyes steadily. Chit Sang had just grinned. "Way to stick it to the man. I want you to know that if you ever become Fire Lord, well, you'll have my full support." He'd stood with a popping of knees and wandered off to sit with Hakoda.

Conversation died down and, little by little, they trickled away from the fire. Sokka and Suki disappeared none too subtly into one of the rooms. Aang and Katara walked off to practice Waterbending at their usual spot in an interior fountain, emboldened by the waxing moon. The Duke, Haru, and Teo, thick as thieves, retreated to another part of the temple where they were apparently working on constructing a fort. Hakoda and Chit Sang were still engaged in deep conversation across the terrace. And it left Zuko alone to stare into the fire, struck by a sudden lonely pang that cut through his gut uncomfortably.

And then there was the familiar scent of fresh soil and Toph joined him by the flames, setting herself down roughly on the stone and clutching one of the cups she'd bent for the event, still half full of its golden liquid.

"Everyone gets distracted and of course nobody thinks to keep the food away from Momo," she explained softly. "He'd eat his weight in food, and yours and mine and your uncle's weight too, if he had the opportunity. Weird little thing."

"Hey, don't hate on the lemur. The same could be said for the rest of us." Zuko felt a grin slide over his face and he pulled the girl closer to him, until she was pressed into his side. He was surprised at first how easily physical intimacy had come between himself and the little Earthbender; he'd never experienced any sort of comfortable touching with anyone before, but with her it was natural.

Toph nuzzled into his side and sipped at the mead, pulling a face. "Yech. This is what they feed to

royalty in your country? The sweet wines of the Earth Kingdom are so much better."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "No. This swill is for the crew. I'm pretty sure Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee would have already consumed the good stuff on the way to the prison." His voice broke a little on Mai's name and he sipped at the cheap liquor again, hoping she didn't notice.

"Good," Toph said. "I was about to write off the Fire Nation entirely. It takes a certain type of psycho to go to war without good alcohol." She paused. "Unless invading the other nations was just their way of obtaining better alcohol, in which case I suddenly understand your country."

"I'll show you some of the better stuff, one day."

"Deal." Toph stood and tossed the cup into the flames. Zuko watched her face as the alcohol came in contact with the fire, eyed the resulting blast of light as it illuminated her petite features and blank eyes. When she returned to their spot, she lay on the ground and rested her head on his thigh. "Once we've won the war, I expect nothing less than the best the Fire Nation has to offer. Gods know we'll have earned it."

Zuko stilled. "You keep talking about what life will be like when we win," he began. The potent alcohol had loosened his tongue and he realized he suddenly wanted to voice the worry that nipped at his heels in the darkness, that prickled behind his eyes. "But what if we- don't? What if we lose?"

Toph moved a finger across the linen covering his knee. "You're an optimistic one."

"That's more my uncle's speed."

Toph snorted. "I'll believe that. But you know, Sparky, we may not have the numbers, but Twinkletoes is powerful. You and Katara, too. And Sokka's actually great at plans and stuff, as much as it literally pains me to admit it. And of course, I'm amazing." She sat up and turned towards Zuko, pressing a finger into his sternum. "I believe we're going to win because we're damn good. We're the world's best chance. We have to. And I think, because you joined us, we will. So don't you dare-" another jab in the chest from her finger, "-give up on this. We've got what it takes. Now we just have to give it our all."

Something akin to intoxicating relief swept through Zuko and he found himself wanting to pull the weird, powerful little Earthbender closer to him; a twitch he'd been experiencing since their spar the week prior. He supposed he was grateful for her; her friendship when he had nobody else, her blunt, honest, and unwavering belief in herself and in him. Zuko briefly wondered if this was what having a sister would feel like, then remembered he had a sister, and pushed the thought from his mind.

Toph settled herself back onto Zuko's thigh and after a few minutes, her breathing became deep and even.

The fire had burned down to its last embers when Katara and Aang emerged from where they'd been practicing, both soaking wet and looking content. Aang simply grinned at the two of them and made his way over to Appa with a wave, but to Zuko's surprise, Katara determinedly walked over to him.

Zuko watched as her eyes flitted over Toph's sleeping position on his thigh, as a corner of her mouth lifted in a sneer.

"So I guess everybody trusts you now, is that it?"

Zuko swallowed and watched the sleeping Earthbender with her, untangling the soft black hair

from his fingers where he'd been languidly rolling around a lock. "Toph's a bit of a special case with that, I think," he replied softly.

Katara knelt and Zuko swallowed at the ferocity in her eyes, the anger that surged just beneath the surface. "No, Zuko," she spat. "I mean everyone trusts you now. You've deceived Aang, Sokka, even my father into thinking that you're a good person, that you've changed," She leaned closer. "I want you to know that I'm still on to you, Zuko. You haven't fooled me with your act. I see you for who you really are."

Zuko felt a surge of anger rush through him; the fire beside them flared in warning, but he said nothing, didn't risk it with the comforting weight of the small sleeping Earthbender on his leg. Instead, he held Katara's aquamarine glare with one of his own for a beat longer before she stood and followed Aang to his spot by the bison.

He resumed playing with Toph's hair, more grateful than ever for her sleeping company.

* * *

There weren't many times that Toph cursed her acute Earthbending.

The first such occasion happened when she was younger, and had made her first desperate bid for freedom. She could feel the heavy guards set outside her door, how her parents paced beside them. One of them said something to the other that caused a spike in their heartbeat, and waves of jarring anger the likes of which Toph had never felt before then rippled through the floor, even when they'd retreated into their room at the far wing of the Beifong estate. And after that, every night, their fighting became worse, and sometimes physical, and Toph knew it was all about her because she may have been young but she certainly wasn't an idiot. When she was with her parents, they wouldn't match; hot heartbeats, cold facades. Toph had never before realized how much people relied on a semblance of calm and the assured privacy of a closed door to mask who they really were.

Then, it was the opposite, as Toph joined Team Avatar and they were very consistently targeted by people who wanted to kill them. A crazed demeanor masking a cold, ruthless, uncaring heartbeat. Toph realized how little her life meant to these assassins in the steady waves that came off of Combustion Man, in the calculated nothingness that was Azula. She learned that calm did not equate to the opposite of murderous, and although it was somewhat terrifying of a lesson, she learned to listen differently.

And then, they were sharing Zuko's family house in Ember Island, and the earth's vibrations were a stuttering, whiplash-inducing mess. The most prominent thing Toph would feel from the others was fear; fear in the way Aang couldn't keep down a large meal, and in Katara's bossy, loud footsteps, and in how Sokka and Suki almost never left one another's sides, even when they weren't alone together (And Toph very much tried to ignore what she felt when they were alone, she really did, because she quite liked Suki and had given up her crush on Sokka a while ago). The fear was then replaced with ripples of cold determination, waves of despair. And then when they were together, sometimes they were happy, and the relieved feeling to just be feeling normal again was stronger than usual as well.

Toph knew the others could sense the turbulence too; not quite as acutely as she could, but it was there. Sokka became desperate to find ways to distract the team in their downtime. Katara used some cooking books she'd found in the beach house kitchen to actually cook good smelling food to entice Aang into eating, in what Toph mused was a desperate attempt to coerce his nervesriddled stomach to accept and not reject sustenance. And Zuko asked for Team Avatar stories to fill the time between training, planning, and sleeping.

But in the night after the play, there seemed to be even more despair and unhappiness than normal, and Toph couldn't sleep. Nobody seemed to be able to that night. They were up pacing, worrying, sending jolts like lightning through the earth. Toph bit her bottom lip and placed a hand flat on the ground, searching for the only person who seemed to help in times like this.

Zuko was harder to find than normal, incrementally calmer than the rest that night, but Toph had grown accustomed to the steady beat by now. Still, she delighted in the surprised spike of his pace as she crashed through the ceiling of the beach house to find him sitting on the tiled rooftop.

He stood, walking over to her and surveying the gaping hole leading to the floor below. "You know, there are less destructive ways of getting up here."

Toph shrugged, feeling the tile underfoot and breathing in the salty air. "I can fix it."

He waved a hand dismissively. "Don't bother."

They walked to the end of the roof and sat together. Zuko leaned back and angled his head upward. Toph wrapped arms around her knees. "Rooftop brooding, Sparky? I'm honestly not surprised. You seem the type."

"I used to come up here when I wanted to get away from my family."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Zuko traced the tiled outline with a long finger. Toph's mind followed it subconsciously. "The last time we stayed in this house, Azula wasn't big enough to climb up. And my father didn't care."

"And your mother?"

Zuko's hand stilled for a moment. "She didn't want to make my father upset by looking for me. He said that boys needed time away; that too much family time would turn me soft."

"Little did he know," Toph joked. Zuko reached around and poked her arm softly. She punched him back. "When I wanted to get away from my family, I joined an illegal Earthbending ring and became their champion."

"Of course you did." Toph wondered if he was smiling.

"So what did you do up here, anyway?"

"I'd practice my Firebending. Or look up at the stars and try to remember the constellations I was taught in lessons. Or just make up my own, because that was easier."

"Oh." Toph stilled for a moment. "What do they look like, anyway?"

"The stars?" He sounded surprised. "I'm not sure I could tell you. I'm no good with words."

"Sparky, you could at least try! Show some sympathy for the little blind girl."

He laughed a shallow, huffing sound. "If there's one thing you don't need, Toph, it's sympathy."

Toph drew her knees closer, trying to ignore the disappointment. "Just- try? Please."

"Oh." If Zuko were surprised at the softness of her voice, he didn't show it. He cleared his throat. "They're like tiny pinpricks of warmth and energy in a vast expanse of nothingness. They're reassuring, I guess. You know that somewhere far away, because you can see the energy they

reassuring, I guess. You know that somewhere far away, because you can see the energy they emit, there is more out there than just this planet.

"But they're also really isolating, because even though there's more, it's so far away that you'll never be able to get there. But I guess it shows that energy manifests in more ways than it does here."

"Hmm," Toph sighed, trying desperately to understand what he meant. "You're right. You are bad with words, Sparky."

He chuckled roughly. "I was trying to emanate Uncle. Maybe you need poetry on it, or something."

Toph turned toward him, struck by a sudden determination. "Sit up."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to touch your face, you dolt."

"What?" His heart fluttered.

Toph rolled her eyes. "Come on, Sparky! I'll never know what the stars look like but I can sure as hell figure out for myself what you look like. Unless you'd care to explain that one to me, too?"

To her surprise, he obeyed without further question, propping himself onto his knees and facing her. She extended a hand, and when she brushed the tip of his nose, his pulse jumped.

To his credit, Zuko sat in silence while Toph ghosted her fingers around his forehead, down his nose, and across his jawline. She felt the rough sandpaper stubble across his chin and how his nose was longer than Sokka's, thinner than Aang's. She felt a pang of sadness from a part of her she'd tried to lock away long ago, that she would never actually know what any of them looked like. Not how the rest of them would.

He jumped more than she was expecting when she placed one hand flat on either side of his face; one cupping the smooth cheekbone and thick brow of the right, the other touching the silken, distorted edges of the scar on the left.

"I _heard_ you had a scar, Sparky."

"I forgot you didn't know." His voice shook a little as she probed the marred flesh into his hairline, over the warped cartilage of his ear.

"It would be impossible not to, after your outburst at the theater tonight." Toph traced his naked brow. "It feels cool. I like it."

"Really?"

"Sure," Toph shrugged, trying to ignore the electric-feeling pricks that traveled up her fingers each time her fingers made contact with him. She decided she liked how his cheeks heated under the compliment. "I've got a bunch, too. Apparently. I was told they make me look dangerous."

She felt him shift underneath her, and in the next moment, his arms wrapped around her back and he was pulling her into his chest, tight. She inhaled, filling her lungs with his familiar smell of tea leaves, shivering in the sudden warmth of his arms around her.

"Thanks," Toph heard Zuko murmur into the top of her head.

"No problem Sparky," she whispered back. "I am the authority on how cool things look, after all."

* * *

"No! No, I won't do it. I can't just go against my values and murder someone! I won't!"

Zuko didn't think he'd ever heard Aang so worked up before, although it was certainly happening more frequently since they'd moved into the beach house, and he'd begun to learn the signs. When Aang got angry, blowing wind was the first indicator. Perhaps an instinctive, visceral response; he'd learned air before he'd learned control of the particular element, rather than in conjunction. Although air spiraling out from the man in all directions was certainly preferable to the other elements in his repertoire, the sand blowing around them now was quite unwelcome as Aang whipped up severe gusts with each angry jerk of his body.

"Aang, we've looked at this from every possible angle!" Katara was yelling at him now. They had been taking turns arguing with the boy, hypothesizing, and brainstorming. Each lead they followed and idea they had, however, seemed to point to the same conclusion; Aang would have to kill Zuko's father to end the war. It was the only way.

"No, we haven't, Katara!" Aang's gray eyes were crazed, and he gripped his head as if wishing he had hair to pull from it as he paced the beach house courtyard. "We've done so little research- we could find the library again, talk to Wan Shi Tong-"

"We don't have time for that, Aang!" Sokka yelled from his spot next to Suki, where he'd been massaging her shoulders. "Even if we dug out the giant owl and he didn't try to kill us again-" Zuko made a mental note to ask Toph for this particular story later- "you heard Zuko! We can't afford to waste the time to get there and find the library again, much less return to the Fire Nation after!"

Aang rounded on Zuko then, who looked back up at him in a way that was hopefully defiant. Even in his time hunting Aang, the boy had never directed so much raw fury towards him.

"And you!" Aang demanded. "Why aren't you defending me? He's your father! Do you want him to die? Wouldn't you prefer that I did everything I could to find a peaceful resolution to this?"

The group sat, stunned. Zuko slowly stood from his stone step. He was distinctly aware that he was trembling. "Don't you dare say that to me, Aang," Zuko forced out through clenched teeth. "After everything he did to me? After _this_?" He gestured to his scar, the ugly mark that marred his face. "After everything he's done to the _world_? I would rather have him dead. He's a monster."

"See, Aang?" Sokka piped up again, unhelpful as always. "You've got permission now. So can you stop worrying and-"

Aang roared in frustration, turning from them and storming towards the house. "This is so messed up! None of you understand what this is for me, what it symbolized for my culture. And none of you even care!"

The door slammed behind him, and only when his footsteps retreated to the second floor did the rest of them dare speak.

Toph, who had been reclining on the step beside Zuko, dug a fist into an eye, rubbing vigorously. "At least the angry Avatar wind has died down."

Zuko smiled despite himself, leaning on an elbow and turning towards her. "Seems to be happening a lot these days, huh?"

Toph flicked a wrist dismissively. "Airbenders. Or at least that's what I'm assuming. This is still nothing compared to how he was when Appa was stolen from us."

"I've been meaning to ask for that story. And what was all that about a buried library, anyway?"

"Hey Zuko," called Sokka's voice from behind him. "Why do you always ask Toph to tell you Team Avatar stories? You ever heard of an unreliable narrator?"

Toph grinned over to where Sokka was sprawled over Suki, kneading a knot from her shoulder. "At least I don't make it sound like we're fighting twenty times the number of bad guys! My stories are just coated in a healthy level of sass, Snoozles. Not blatant fabrication."

"That was one time-"

"One time we were fighting hundreds of pirates and Fire Nation soldiers, Sokka?" Katara threw back to him. "There were like, seven of each!"

"Hey wait," Zuko cut in. "I was there for that! I was one of those soldiers. Who were you telling that story to?"

Sokka's face had turned red. Suki propped herself up on a slender elbow beneath him. "You mean to tell me that those stories were all lies?!" She gasped.

Sokka blanched. "Not _all_ lies! Not at all! It certainly felt like there were hundreds of each- there were only three of us at the time! And Momo, but he didn't do much. And-"

"And you mean to say that you didn't singlehandedly battle an entire group of underground Earth Nation wrestlers?"

Toph perked up. "Present and accounted for."

"And you didn't defeat six surly but dangerous Fire Nation women running on less than an hour of sleep?" Suki scrambled to her knees next to him. "How could I ever forgive you, Sokka? How could I ever trust you again?"

Sokka's eyes were wide. "Okay, fine! Maybe I used a bit of creativity when I was telling those stories, but-"

He was broken off when she planted a wet kiss on his cheek. "I already knew. Don't worry. Gods, but you're easy to mess with!"

"Oh, you little-"

The rest of their conversation was lost as Suki jumped up and ran from the courtyard, shrieking in laughter, Sokka hot on her heels. Zuko just chuckled at their easy candor and turned back to Toph. "So, the library story? Or the Appa one?"

Toph grinned at him. "They're actually one in the same. I won't have to charge you double for my realistic account of events, this time."

Zuko felt a smile cross his lips easily and reached out, fingering the wide, rough hem of her pants. "I didn't realize I was accumulating a bill."

"I'll hold off sending debt collectors until we're out of this mess."

"Can't wait." He rolled his eyes. "Now tell me the damned story already."

"Right." Toph laid down on the step. "Once upon a time, Sokka got another horrible idea."

"You know, I've noticed a lot of your stories start off that way."

"Hush while I talk. We were taking mini vacations across the Earth Kingdom! Because that's what one decides when one has access to a flying bison, an outdated map, and a lot of free time when Aang is learning the elements, apparently. We visited this town, tiny and filled with seedy characters, whose only claim to fame was a block of ice in the center."

"Wait," Zuko said, remembering. "I've been there! That's where the smuggling event happened, the one I told you about."

Toph laughed. "We've already established your disturbing ability to stalk Aang quite literally across the globe, Sparky. Now if you'll stay quiet for a single second, I'll tell you the story.

"We met a nerdy academic type from Ba Sing Se, who told us about a giant library in the middle of the desert, belonging to the knowledge spirit Wan Shi Tong, a big owl from what they told me. Apparently the library was huge, and we were hungry for information on the Fire Nation, and is it really a day with Team Avatar if you're not risking your life? So we decided to look for the library with him. Well, the others looked. I just got a magnificent sunburn from Appa's saddle and entertained everyone with clever remarks."

Katara snorted from the other side of the courtyard where she was combing sand from her hair.

"So we find it, of course, because four of the five members have functioning eyeballs and Appa has that whole altitude advantage. It's almost entirely buried in sand, but there's still a window they climb through. Appa and I hang out in the desert together, because he can't fit and I couldn't give a single shit about books. He wants to snuggle, I don't, we sit in awkward silence."

"He wanted to snuggle?" Zuko asked, unable to keep silent any longer.

Toph held out her arms defiantly. "I've spent a lot of time around big furry animals, okay? I understand them! But then the library begins to sink because the heroic and capable trio pissed off Wan Shi Tong, and I had to bend it to keep it above the surface. And then who decides to show up but a gang of Sandbenders, who took advantage of the fact that I could barely feel the earth and was currently heroically saving the lives of my friends and they stole him, dragged him away and there was nothing I could do.

"So Aang, Katara, and Sokka come out of the library and we're stranded in the middle of the desert: one emotionally turbulent Avatar, one Waterbender without any water, one Water Tribe idiot, one lemur idiot, and an Earthbender who can't see in any sense of the word."

"How did you get out?"

"Well, Sokka got himself and Momo high. I entertained everyone with sass. And Katara used her gift of overly-emotional speeches about hope. And long story short, we were outta there."

Zuko sat for a minute, thinking. "You should write children's books, Toph."

She grinned appreciatively and moved closer to him, leaning her head against his outstretched forearm. "I'll definitely think about it."

"That's not all, though." Katara had walked up to them, speaking softly. "We found a group of Sandbenders again, who helped us find our way out of the desert. But when we first confronted them, Aang lost his mind. He was so filled with grief and rage that he went into the Avatar State, and attacked them." Her voice shook. "He destroyed some of their transportation, and some of the

Sandbenders were hit by the chunks of material. I don't think Aang noticed. He must not have." She sat on the step below them, whispering. "But Aang has definitely killed people before. We all have, I think."

"You have?" Zuko asked, shocked.

Toph sighed beside him. "Sparky, when we invaded the Earth King's palace in Ba Sing Se, I smashed Dai Li agents into the ceiling with pillars of stone and felt their bones crush." She shuddered. "We do what we can to survive here, and we've made a lot of enemies."

"When Aang saved the Northern Water Tribe, he drowned nearly all of the attacking soldiers in the city," Katara added.

Zuko remembered. The horrified, pleading face of Zhao was still fresh in his memory, submerging underneath the water. "Then why don't you tell him? If he already knows it's happened, if he's so worried about the integrity of his spirit or something-" Zuko began.

"That's not it," Katara breathed sadly. "I'm worried that if we tell him that now, he'll blame himself and fall apart. That's the last thing we need right now." She looked at Zuko hopelessly.

"Yeah, believe me, Sparky. Realizing that you've actually killed someone isn't the best for your mental health," Toph said beside him, the uncharacteristic softness of her voice emphasizing the statement. Zuko instinctively pulled her closer.

When Zuko looked back up at Katara, she was watching the two of them with an expression on her face he couldn't quite place. He swallowed, suddenly uncomfortable of how his cheeks heated under her scrutinizing gaze.

"I'm going to rest," she said finally. "The two of you should turn in soon, too." She touched a hand to Zuko's shoulder lightly and left the courtyard.

Toph scowled in her wake. "I perform better when I'm so tired I want to hit everything! Party pooper."

"Then how about one more for the road, Toph?" Zuko asked, knowing he would get no sleep anyway, desperate to stave off the feelings of impending doom and despair threatening to engulf him. "Tell me about the time you invaded the Earth King's palace in Ba Sing Se."

Toph's face lit up wonderfully beneath him. "Now _that's_ a good one."


	3. Passing Notes

**Passing Notes**

* * *

When Zuko dislodged himself from Iroh at their makeshift camp in Ba Sing Se, it was with a stomach lighter than air and the desperate need for a bath. He gave the man one final, wonderful squeeze and inquired as to the nearest pool of relatively clean water.

Zuko wasn't surprised to discover that the Order of the White Lotus- or the Order of the Saggy White-Haired Men, as Sokka had been calling them- had a fully functional, if not small, bathhouse. A bathhouse was expected, with his Uncle, and Zuko felt a swing of nostalgia when he remembered how much Iroh would complain when they were on the run.

_There are many worldly pleasures worth giving up, Prince Zuko,_ Iroh had told him around a meager campfire, trying to subdue their gnawing hunger with small root vegetables Zuko had pulled. _The Air Nomads base their life on the separation of mind and body; spiritual from carnal. But even they knew the intrinsic value of a nice, hot bath._

Zuko smiled as he remembered the Air Temple bathhouses, finding the meager room in the camp and stripping off his clothes, bathing gratefully. The Air Temple baths were extensive and bright with rooms based around play and meditation, like much else in Airbender culture. However, they required Airbending to function properly, and neither Zuko nor Iroh could generate enough hot air to make the complex series of tubes and channels work for them.

Except, Zuko thought as he emerged from the bath minutes later and hearing Iroh's booming voice that could only mean he was telling a story, hot air really shouldn't have been their problem. He walked to the center of the camp, dodging some of the surely powerful yet still significantly saggy and white-haired men passing by. Some of them grinned at him. Others clapped him on the back. Zuko felt almost lightheaded at the idea that so many people were touching him, accepting him, no matter the color of the clothes on their backs.

This was what they'd been working for. This was their ultimate goal.

When he reached the clearing, Zuko wasn't surprised to find Iroh sitting there, clearly in the middle of telling a story. Next to him was Toph, all wide grins and vivid energy, clutching to the man's shoulder and howling in laughter. Katara, thankfully not cooking, sat to the side with Sokka and Suki as they poured over a map with the Water Tribe elder Zuko heard had trained Katara. They each had a bowl of something steaming hot and wonderful smelling, and Zuko gratefully picked up his own as he made his way towards his uncle.

"And then-" Iroh was saying through the tears in his eyes, loud enough to be heard over Toph's gales of laughter. "I take out the tile from my sleeve and I say, I say- 'Prince Zuko! The lotus tile has been in my sleeve the whole time!'"

Toph laughed so hard she was rendered silent, a mirthful tear carving a shimmering streak down her pale cheek. "And what did he do?" She finally choked out.

"What else? He grabbed it from my hand and flung it over the waterfall, right after our boat and the shipload of pirates who had stolen it!"

Toph lost her balance and fell back onto the ground, succumbing to another bout of laughter. Zuko smiled and sat beside them. There was something about seeing the two of them together,

young and old and fire and earth and yet so similar, that made his chest warm.

"Sparky." Toph breathed from her spot on the ground. "Sparky, I've made a huge mistake! I've been telling you stories instead of asking for yours!" She sat up, propping herself on a palm.

Zuko smiled wider and looked at Iroh. "I think my uncle tells them better, anyway." Iroh nodded at him appreciatively. Toph reached a small hand over to steal a shrimp from Zuko's bowl. He swatted her away. She kicked him.

"So, Fire Lord Sparky, huh?" Toph asked, victoriously licking shrimp juice from her fingers. "It's going to take me a while to get used to it, but I guess I can believe it."

Zuko nearly choked. "What?" He looked at Iroh, eyes wide. The man grinned back at him.

"Come, Nephew. Let's join the others." Iroh hauled himself to his feet and courteously reached a large hand down to help Toph, which she accepted. "We have a lot to discuss today."

After a short but highly productive talk over a second bowl of food, there was nothing left to do but go their separate ways. Zuko stood awkwardly by Appa, scratching the animal's nose appreciatively and surveying the sky. They would have to push the bison to his limits to get to the Fire Nation on time, but there sky was clear of clouds and a warm breeze was blowing. He felt nervous, enough to almost make him regret the extra food, but Iroh had made him feel confident, too.

Suki approached him first, with a quick, soft kiss on the cheek and a whispered "Good luck. And I forgive you for burning down my village." Zuko smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Thanks," he said. "That means a lot." It really did.

Sokka came next, clapping a hand onto his back and pulling Zuko into a close hug. When he backed off, there were steely, determined tears set in his eyes. "Whatever happens now, Zuko," he said, voice hard. "We're family. Forever. Good luck, man. I'll see you on the other side. Oh, and remember that thing you said about the silver cloud sandwich?"

Zuko blinked. "Of course I do. Why?"

Sokka grinned impishly. "Because it was fucking stupid! You're going to need some humility when you're Fire Lord!" One last hug and he moved on to Katara. Zuko rolled his eyes and left to give them privacy.

Iroh was standing by the fire in the center of the camp, negotiating with an older woman. When Zuko approached, Iroh met him halfway, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him into a tight, soft hug. Zuko felt himself mold gratefully against the man. "We just got back together, Uncle," he whispered into the man's ear. "I don't want to leave so soon."

He could betray his fears with Iroh. He could let Iroh know how it terrified him that death lingered just out of reach, how certain he was that today might very well be his last. He'd chosen Katara to come with him because Azula always had a weakness against water; Zuko had watched Katara almost beat his sister in Ba Sing Se. but even against the two of them, even with their considerable skill

"What if we're not good enough?" Zuko whispered into Iroh, feeling himself tremble.

Iroh just squeezed him tighter, his rough voice quiet in Zuko's ear. "Prince Zuko, you are strong and capable and indefinitely powerful. You have struggled through so much and you are not going to die today. We will both emerge victorious. And we will send word from a hawk

and convene in the Fire Nation to celebrate all our victories, and to plan for a brighter future."

"Promise it will work out?"

"Yes, my son. I promise."

Iroh pulled away from him. Shining tears streamed down his face, catching in the aged grooves. He didn't wipe them away. "I am so proud of you."

Zuko found Toph standing by their giant eel-hound, looking ruffled, as if she had just escaped from a vicious goodbye-hug from Katara. Her face was inscrutable, past the curtain of hair.

"Another big beast, huh?" Zuko asked, eyeing the lizard's lean muscles and smooth scales.

"It's a good thing Suki and Sokka have me with them, in case it misbehaves." Toph joked, sounding as if her heart weren't in it at all. "I do know my animals."

Zuko stepped closer to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. Trying to come up with words for how much the tiny Earthbender had changed his life in the last few weeks. How he wasn't sure he could have done it without her. But nothing came. "Toph, I-" he began lamely.

The next thing he knew, Toph's arms were around his waist and she was pulling him into a wonderful, warm, bone-crushing hug. Zuko stooped a little to hug her back, tangling his fingers into her neat, soft bun and pulling her head against his sternum, snaking the other arm around her waist to pull her flush against his body. She was shaking, he noticed. Or maybe it was him.

"Don't you dare die, Zuko." Her voice was muffled against his chest. "Don't leave me alone with these idiots. Please."

"I won't," he said quietly into her hair, noting the use of his actual name. "I promise, I won't." He stroked a thumb down the side of her face and kissed her forehead lightly. She squeezed him harder.

When Zuko pulled away, it was to a blurry vision and the realization that there were tears in his eyes. He helped Toph onto the lizard and climbed aboard Appa, where Katara was waiting for him. They exchanged a glance and she rested a long-fingered hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"We're going to be alright, Zuko," she said quietly. "All of us. We're going to make it."

"How can you be so confident?" He asked.

Katara's aquamarine gaze hardened. "Because we have to."

Zuko caught his uncle's eyes one more time, and held them even after Appa had taken off and began the long journey westward.

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

Toph's hands clenched a banister in the large Fire Nation airship, the last functioning monstrosity that hadn't been destroyed in the battle. She found some relief in how the material turned to putty in her hands, warping into an amorphous, abstracted shape. When they were back at the Fire Nation, she would tear apart this ship, too, and put to rest the Fire Nation's superior air power once and for all.

They were all sitting in the cockpit. An odd grouping, Toph thought; Sokka, whose shattered leg was being bound more securely by Suki as he groaned in pain. Toph felt the tremors in the ground, and shivered. Aang stood at the helm, taking shouted advice as he steered the ship. Momo was on his shoulder, hurting more than helping; typical of the little lemur. And behind them, bound to the back wall from metal Toph had ripped from the ship itself, was Ozai. He seemed to have passed out.

And it hit Toph again, the glowing realization that Aang had won and they had won and the war was over, but she couldn't relax. None of them could, yet. Not when they didn't know what they would find at the Fire Nation palace city.

"We'll be there soon," Aang informed her, peeking out of a window. "We just crossed to the mainland. Shouldn't be too long now."

"Good," Sokka moaned. He looked over at Ozai's limp form. "Hey Loser Lord, you got any pain killers in that palace of yours? Something tells me you'll have something strong, right?"

"You know Sokka," Toph said, "Taking drugs from ex-Fire Lord Ozai still wouldn't be the stupidest thing you've ever done. It would take second, after the Cactus Juice Incident." Sokka's face contorted into a clear scowl towards her. Toph grinned. "We could search the ship for liquor?" Gods knew she needed it too. There was something about helping to defeat the biggest, baddest guy of all time that made her want to celebrate. And maybe there was also something about realizing just how many people in the airships had almost certainly died that made her want to drink, too.

"No need," Aang cut in before Sokka could answer. Toph felt waves of nerves coming off of the Airbender. "We're here."

They touched the ship down beside the palace, in a large open street. Toph wriggled her toes around, feeling the Palace City for the first time- after all, the last time she'd been in the area, she had been underneath the city instead. The buildings were old and mostly stone, with intricate carving work and statues and estates of massive square footage. They reminded her of the Beifong estate, and Toph wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

"Where is everyone?" Aang asked as they walked into the palace grounds.

Toph groaned, searching for signs of life. "Oh no, not again! What is it with the Fire Nation and being able to miraculously clear out an entire city at the drop of a hat?"

"Katara!" Sokka screamed, arm thrown over Suki's shoulder as they hobbled behind them. "Zuko! Where are you?!" Ripe waves of fear were coursing off of him. His heartbeat was wild.

"Sokka?! _Sokka_!"

Toph felt the faces of her friends turn upwards as the wonderful, sweeping relief of Katara's voice came from above them. She seemed to be on a balcony of sorts; a second floor terrace that looked out over the palace city. Toph planted a foot and pushed into the wall, and stairs carved themselves into the side. Katara ran downward, skipping every two steps, and flung herself at Sokka and Aang.

They devolved into a tangle of limbs, sitting on the ground, holding each other. Katara held out a hand for Toph and Suki, who joined them gratefully. She was touching them, kissing them, as if to assure herself they were real. Sokka grabbed at everybody he could reach. "You're okay!" He kept saying. "You're okay, little sister!" Aang fisted a hand in Katara's hair and pulled her close, into his chest. Toph leaned against them all, her one real family, and touched their faces and found

they were all wet, and discovered that somewhere in the mess, she'd started to cry as well.

It still wasn't right, Toph thought, feeling them shift around her, afraid to let go. Anxiety spiked though the Waterbender and her hands trembled, as if she were thinking the same thing. "Katara," Toph said slowly. "Where's Zuko?"

Another spike of fear and Toph felt as if she might vomit. Aang and Sokka pulled away, too. "Katara?" Aang asked quietly. "What's going on?"

"He-" Katara stopped, steadying herself. "He got hurt. Badly. Azula shot him with lightning." She swayed on the spot. "He was awake for a while, and then he passed out, and I've done all I can but he still hasn't woken up-"

Nauseatingly cold dread settled in Toph's stomach. She bent a rock to fall back upon, needing the stability. "Where is he now?"

Katara wiped at her face aggressively; she must still be crying. "I couldn't do much. I dragged him up to the terrace above us. That way, I could keep an eye on Azula too-"

"Where is she?!" Aang gasped.

Katara motioned towards a courtyard behind them. "I chained her up. She's been crying and screaming all night. It's been horrible." She shivered. "I couldn't do anything else, not now, not with Zuko in the state that he is. I've been sitting up there with him, healing him, begging Yue to keep him alive, for our allies to show up soon, for you to arrive, to all be okay."

"Alright," Toph took a steadying breath. "Katara, get back up there. See if Suki can help you get him to an interior room. With estates like these, some of the innermost chambers are the most wellguarded." She stood and cracked a knuckle. "And heal your brother when you get a chance. His leg isn't looking too good."

"And she can't even see!" Sokka said, clenching his teeth in pain. "So that should give you an indication to the gravity of the situation!"

"Meanwhile, Toph and I will deal with Ozai and Azula," Aang piped up, catching on to the plan quickly.

Katara hesitated at Ozai's name. Then, clearly deciding that the conversation could be saved for later, she nodded to Suki and hauled Sokka to his feet, hobbling towards the stairway Toph had constructed. Toph flicked a wrist and the stone beneath them began to ascend, pushing from her mind who waited at the top of the terrace for them.

Azula was silent when Toph and Aang approached, contorted into an unnatural position from her writhing and bound arms. When Toph solidified the metal chains on her wrists, reinforcing them with rock and doing the same to her ankles, she jerked and whimpered, but didn't seem to recognize either of them.

"What the hell happened to her?" Toph murmured to Aang as he helped her encase Azula in a stone cage and carried her towards the airship to extract Ozai. Aang only shook his head, keeping it trained on the once composed and calculating Fire Nation Princess as her head hit the side of the stone cage repeatedly, scraping a brow bloody. She did nothing to stop it.

They unceremoniously deposited Azula and Ozai into separate cells, across the prison, and reinforced each with enough rock and metal to feel confident neither would break out. "Firebenders won't be able to get through this," Aang said confidently as he surveyed their work. "They bend fire! And nobody else will help them because, well, they'll be on our side."

Toph rolled her eyes. "What incredible deductive reasoning, Twinkletoes. This from the very same kid who just defeated the Fire Lord! What skills don't you possess?"

Aang swatted at her arm and sped up. "Let's go see how Zuko is doing."

"Let's definitely go do that."

They were halfway across the courtyard when Toph stopped in her tracks, pulling at Aang's bare arm.

"What is it Toph?"

"Shh," Toph pressed a finger to his lips. "I feel someone."

"Someone who isn't us?"

Toph wiggled her toes, sensing the light, soundless footsteps. "Definitely not one of us. There are three of them. They're light, probably not carrying any weapons."

A ripple of horror from Aang. "Benders?"

"Almost certainly. Come." Toph sped up towards the vibrations the intruders were leaving, trusting Aang to fall into a familiar run behind her. It was a strategy they'd developed in their months of training; using Toph as a guide towards a source, Aang as the eyes. They had come up with a series of light taps and hand signals for communication, in case they had to be quiet, or Aang had to alert her to an incoming above-ground threat.

They entered the palace and followed a complicated series of twists and turns through labyrinthian hallways and why oh why did the Fire Nation always have to overcomplicate everything, right down to their architecture? Toph cursed the thick carpet underfoot for muffling her sight and moved to the side of the hallway, where there was still exposed tiled stone. Well, no accounting for taste. She held three fingers behind her back for Aang, narrowing in on each set of footsteps.

Toph had known they shouldn't leave Zuko alone for long. She had known that the moment word spread they had defeated Ozai and Azula, the assassins would come. Word must have gotten out, Toph figured as she propelled herself forward, feeling the hallways, intent on cutting them off. They were coming for Zuko, and he wasn't in any state to defend himself, much less one Waterbender exhausted from healing, one idiot with a broken leg, and the idiot's girlfriend who might very well have held her own against two of them, but probably not three.

They were right above her now, on the floor above, and Toph reached a hand out to stop Aang, concentrating on the ceiling. Stone and metal beams; not a problem. She yanked her hand downwards and the ceiling gave out, crashing down to their level and bringing with it three bodies.

Toph stepped forward from the shadows as they sprang away from her, Firebender-quick reflexes. She smirked when they relaxed almost instantly, judging her on her size. They always did, for some reason. All the better for Toph. She'd take anything she could that would give her an advantage.

"Where are you going, boys?" She sneered at them, voice surprisingly steady.

"Fuck off, Earthbender," came the gravelly reply from the one in front. "We don't have time for you."

Toph took another step forward, cracking each knuckle in sequence. "You here to pay a visit to the new Fire Lord? Maybe be the first to pledge your loyalty?"

"As if." Toph felt Aang shift behind her in the shadows and held a hand up- do nothing. He was hurting, in need of healing and a good rest.

And Toph, well, she needed this.

"Then tell me, what would you be doing in the royal palace at this hour?"

The one with the scratchy voice stepped forward. "We're going to fucking kill the usurper and become heroes, you blind freak." He made a noise in the back of his throat and spit at the ground in front of her.

A spike of sweet, intoxicating adrenaline coursed through Toph and she screamed, dislodging the floor tile where the assassin's spit had touched and, with a quick appropriate flick of her middle finger, slammed it into his face, feeling the satisfying crack of his zygomatic bone through the rock. Then, a series of quick hand motions and the wall beside them had ripped itself apart from the building, slamming into the wall standing parallel and crushing between them swiftly and effectively the three assassins.

Toph stood there for a moment longer, trembling, blinking back the tears that had welled unbidden into her eyes.

"Holy shit, Toph," Aang said softly as he hobbled to stand beside her. "Remind me not to piss you off." He walked towards the wreckage and surveyed it. "Do you think they'll be ok?"

Toph rolled her eyes. A priceless Aang moment, and no Zuko or Sokka to share it with. "Yeah, Twinkletoes," Toph answered, turning towards the nearest stairway, ignoring the feeling of their hot blood pooling against the cold stone floor. "I'm sure they just need a bit of shut-eye."

They found the rest of the group in a central room, huddled together and tired and worn out and injured but also so very alive. Aang immediately walked over to Katara, who was seated on a rug by an unlit fireplace. Suki was kneeling beside Sokka, who was in a comfortable-feeling chair and had his leg propped up on the frame of a large bed in the middle of the room. Appa was on the balcony, accompanied by Momo. They were both fast asleep.

"Assassins!" Aang gasped as he stumbled into the room. "Three of them!"

Katara and Suki jumped up. "What?" they asked, matching each others' horror.

"Don't worry, they're taken care of," Toph clarified quickly. "Twinkletoes, probably best to lead with that information next time."

"Oh yeah. Sorry," He said, in the tone that made him really not sound too sorry at all.

Toph walked to the bed and sat, needing to jump to haul herself onto its considerable height. She felt around, bending impossible on such a thick mattress, for Zuko. She finally touched an arm, but it couldn't have been his. This arm was cold, the pulse was noncommittal and weak.

A hand, comforting and warm in contrast, touched her. Katara. "He still hasn't woken up," she muttered to Toph. "I've done all I can, now we just have to wait."

Toph nodded, not trusting her words. "We should sleep in shifts. In case there are more assassins coming," Katara continued. "I don't know how long we're going to have to wait until the White Lotus arrives, but it could be a while. And we're surrounded by Fire Nation. We still haven't seen

the end of this."

Toph moved from the feather mattress, rejoicing in how she could bend again with her feet on solid ground. "I'll stay up," she volunteered softly. "I can feel the palace better than the rest of you anyway. Making their home out of stone was maybe the only smart thing the Firelords have ever done."

Katara hesitated. "Toph, are you sure? You need rest too, Sokka told me what you three went through—"

Toph reached out and touched her hand. "Trust me, Katara. An assassin would be suicidal to pick a fight with me right now."

Toph sat, cross-legged, on the floor while the rest of the group devolved into a messy pile of arms and legs on the chairs and rugs and the large bed in the small room. Racing hearts stilled, and the spikes of fear and emotion lessened until it was just her, the steady breathing of the people she loved, and an empty palace.

They stirred a few times. Katara was on a strict healing schedule for both Sokka's and Zuko's wounds. Each time she awoke, Toph would deliver the same message. None of our allies yet. But no more assassins, either. Fortunately, Katara's message changed. He's doing better. Warmer. Stronger pulse. I think he's going to make it.

They passed hours holed up in the little room, scared and anxious. Maybe half a day, judging from how it warmed up and some of them began to stir, and how Momo became restless from hunger. They moved around the room quietly, feeling much stronger and happier after the night of rest. Toph refused to sleep. Not when she was slowly categorizing each stone that built the palace, tuning into every brick and tile and metal pipe of the estate. She could feel every vibration from the street now, the light touch of a Turtleduck meandering its way across the gardens in another wing.

The first assertive footstep into the palace courtyard was so jarring that Toph jerked violently, broken out of her inspection of the kitchens. She narrowed in on the intruder, feeling for a familiar vibration, and a crashing relief came over her.

"Aang," Toph called to the boy, sitting on the balcony with the animals. "Aang, Iroh's here."

She stood suddenly, swayed dangerously on the spot, and fell back to the ground. Katara helped her up, moving her to the bed beside Zuko. "Thank you so much, Toph. We'll go meet them. Now sleep."

"Are you sure?" She could stay awake longer. She would stay awake for days, if it kept them safe.

"Yes. We've got this."

Toph gratefully laid a head down on the mattress and reached out a hand, settling it in the nook of Zuko's elbow. The steady, strong beat of his heart lulled her to sleep within seconds.

* * *

Zuko's sleep had been a disorienting blur of screams, nightmares, and sharp bolts of pain through his body. When he woke up, it was a relief to find that only the third still remained in the waking world.

He stretched slightly and assessed his current situation. He seemed to have all four limbs working.

He wriggled his fingers and toes and shifted his head around, trying to see where he was.

He gasped as a bolt of pain shot through him, beginning at the center of his chest and moving through his neck. And then, it all came rushing back. His sister's disjointed laughter. The clashes of fire, red on blue. The Agni Kai. Katara. What the hell had happened after that? Were they all okay?

He forced his head to turn. He was in one of the Fire Nation palace's guest rooms. Evening light streamed through the large windows and Appa sat outside on the terrace, contentedly soaking in the rest of the sun. That was a good sign.

Zuko turned his head to the other side. The room was a mess. Scraps of cloth and bandage littered the floor. Not that he particularly minded; as far as Zuko was concerned, if it meant his friends had been there, the room was better that way.

There was a deep breathing coming from beside him and Zuko found Toph sleeping next to him, curled in a tight ball with one hand jutting out, resting on his arm. He felt fresh, intoxicating relief as he looked down at her, taking in that she was alive and sleeping and okay, and that meant the rest of them just might be, too.

Zuko began to inspect her, eyes and fingers roaming over her sleeping form protectively. She was so different asleep, features more feminine and delicate than when she was exuding her usual ferocity and assertiveness. He touched her hand, noting the broken and cracked nails, how they had flakes of grime and earth and even metal underneath them. It was so typically Toph, and he smiled.

Toph's arms were covered in scrapes and bloody cuts and blossoming, blue bruises. Her clothing was torn on the edges and filthy, the green so dirty it was almost black. Her hair was wild and singed in places, tumbling from its usually neat bun. Her face was also caked in dirt with long tear tracks cutting trails through the grime, exposing the unnaturally light skin beneath. He unconsciously traced one, scared to know what could have happened to make her cry.

She shifted. "You know Sparky, it's supremely bad manners to disturb the sleep of someone who's just saved your ass." She sighed, moving incrementally closer to him, keeping her eyes closed. "But you're warm, so I guess I'll let it slide, just the once."

Zuko didn't take his hand back. "You suddenly care about manners? You must have sustained a serious head injury in the fight, Toph."

She grinned. "Can I hit you yet? Or would that cause you to pass out on us again?"

"Let's not risk it." He groaned, moving an arm around her shoulders. "Tell me what happened, before I have to stand up and find out for myself."

"Story time?"

"Yes. But the most important parts first, please."

"Are you sure? It really defeats the purpose of story time to spoil the ending."

"Toph, I swear to Agni, the nerves are killing me." His stomach turned in anxiety and Zuko was briefly glad he hadn't eaten anything in the last day.

She snorted. "Alright well, if you want the abridged version- Aang won."

Zuko let his head fall back onto a pillow, feeling wonderful relief seep through his body once

again. "And my father?"

"Twinkletoes took his bending away. Crazy spirit world adventure, I guess."

"No kidding." Zuko smiled, beginning to move a finger around the bone of Toph's shoulder in small circles. "Aang can really do that? Just- take someone's bending away from them? And is everybody else alright?"

"Yeah." Toph's voice was enthusiastic. "It was amazing. We destroyed the rest of the fleet, and brought Ozai back to the Fire Nation with us. To find you and Katara. We moved him and Azula into cells in the prison, and I smashed the fucking faces of three assassins who were sneaking in to kill you."

Zuko's finger, still tracing the bones in her shoulder, stilled. "What?!"

Toph waved a hand dismissively. "You're a target, Zuko. You're officially the second most powerful person in the world, after Aang. It's going to happen. And when it does, we're going to stop them. In case you didn't catch it, I told you I smashed their fucking faces in."

He squeezed her, shaken, but grateful. "That's my girl."

She tensed for a moment, and then relaxed farther into his side. "After, Twinkletoes and I came up here. We hid out in this room. Everyone got some sleep while I kept watch. Then, your uncle arrived, and Katara forced me to go to sleep.

"My uncle is here!" Zuko tried to push himself from the bed, and caught another rippling wave of pain. He wouldn't be moving today.

"Hold your ostrich horses, Sparky. Let's not have the new Fire Lord die on day one, okay? I'll go get him now."

"Thanks," Zuko said through clenched teeth, willing the pain to subside quickly. "Wait. Toph." He caught her hand as she made to slide off the bed. "You were going to tell me how you took down the entire fleet of Fire Nation ships?"

She flashed him a wide grin. "Actually? I'm going to relinquish my storytelling responsibilities and let Sokka tell you that one. Two words, Sparky: airship slice."

* * *

"There we were, in a single airship we'd already gone to great lengths to take over, and I look out the window and see at least thirty more! And I think to myself- how in La's name are we going to take them all out? Was saving the world impossible, after all? After everything we'd been through?"

"Spoiler alert: it wasn't," Toph muttered under her breath just loudly enough for Katara, who was sitting on a cushion beside her, to shake with silent laughter.

They both turned to Sokka, whose version of their heroic wartime moment had predictably become less realistic with each retelling. This one was no different. Toph had confronted Sokka loudly after his third or forth rendition of the story in the month after the war's official end, offering to put him in Azula's asylum until he had worked through his acute tendency to exaggerate, which had earned her a look so nasty she could feel it. Since then, she'd simply decided to see how the story changed each time, which was still almost as fun as giving Sokka shit.

Katara, on the other hand, broke through her brother's dramatically hushed voice. "Sokka, who are you trying to impress here?" She drew her hands around her, motioning around the small group sitting around the Jasmine Dragon. "It's just us. We've all heard your story at least ten times. Some of us were even there!"

"Although we haven't heard this version, I guess," Toph added, unable to help herself.

Sokka spluttered back indignantly. "I'm telling the story for the memories! Do you want me to feel as if I can't think back fondly to my glorious accomplishments?"

Toph could literally feel Katara's eyes roll; the gesture usually accompanied with a toss of her head and spike in her pulse. "My apologies, oh brave and accomplished sibling! Please, continue your tale!"

"Thank you," Sokka said. "Now, where was I? Oh yeah! So there we were, faced with at least forty of his airships-"

A series of light, tapping vibrations in the floor distracted Toph from the story and she narrowed in on it. Three quick, drumming taps. And then three again.

She angled her face towards Zuko, sitting casually on the ground, leaning against Mai's legs. Of course Mai had chosen a chair. She flashed a grin and tapped a block of earth up into his palm, now face down on the floor.** _I'm paying attention._**

Toph concentrated on his finger, drawing slow characters into the tile. **_You think he'll make Aang fight two Firelords again?_**

Toph's smile widened. She concentrated on bending the rock beside him, sinking characters into the surface. **_At least five this time. Bet you._**

Zuko peaked at the letters. **_What's on the line?_** Came back to Toph.

**_Loser has to try and involve Mai in group activities._**

**_Ha, ha._**

It was a method of communication the two of them had developed after the countless meetings that had taken place since the war's end. Toph was eternally grateful to have some way to entertain herself; she was put more to sleep with each treaty negotiated and alliance forged, and personally couldn't find a single reason to care about things like tariffs. Although she had more input to give on the Fire Nation colonies and the development of Aang's new goal, Republic City, most of the other negotiations were mind-numbingly dull.

Toph had found herself dozing off one day during a particularly heated debate about vegetable transportation, or irrigation, or something else monumentally boring that should not have caused this many old people to jump and scream at each other, when she'd noticed a soft, even tapping vibration coming from farther down the stone table. She reached with her bending to find they were coming from Zuko. Slowly, he drew characters asking **_What was this meeting on again?_** And since then, she'd had a whole other reason to anticipate the days spent in the palace's council chamber; trying her damnedest to get Zuko to laugh out loud in the middle of a meeting.

She'd come close, too. But eventually the meetings had stopped, documents were signed, and the world was just about ready to move onward into its new era of peace. And the group of them, plus one very gloomy knife tosser, made their way to Ba Sing Se to celebrate.

And many of them wouldn't be going back to the Fire Nation for a while, Toph included. She'd

been receiving a steady stream of various offers and requests (including one particularly frustrating plea to come back home from her parents, which she kept pushing to the innermost corners of her mind), and had decided to stay in Ba Sing Se to pursue some of the more intriguing ones.

All Toph had to do now was tell Zuko of her plans. From a very rational, Earthbender perspective, it should have been an easy thing. He would be expecting it. But for some reason, telling Zuko she'd be leaving the Fire Nation seemed important to Toph. It made her chest tighten in a weird way, and she supposed it was due to their nearly immediate and close friendship they forged during the war, even though Zuko now spent the majority of his time behind closed doors and with his advisers. It seemed like a reasonable explanation. And just maybe she didn't want to think about it any more than that.

Three light taps again. **_Did you catch how many Firelords? Mai keeps poking me in the back._**

**_Shit,_** Toph wrote back. **_Didn't catch it._**

**_I guess Mai is on her own tonight._**

**_Speaking of. Meet me later._**

**_Where?_**

**_I'll find you._**

**_You always do, don't you?_**

* * *

Zuko figured Toph would tease him endlessly if they met on a rooftop again. And Toph's teasing and shit-giving came with eye rolls and waves of snark and quite a few uncomfortable pokes and punches and a great deal of attention from the little Earthbender.

So of course, he found a way to climb to the rooftop of his uncle's tea shop that evening, escaping as Iroh brought out the sake: a unique flavor from Whaletail Island. Trying new drinks was a blossoming habit of his since finally settling down, and their group made perfect taste testers.

Zuko very much enjoyed the few days off, where he wasn't feeling either the emotional or physical weight of being Fire Lord- he'd gratefully accepted the idea of a getaway, and an opportunity to ditch the heavy shoulder plates and robes. His family had negotiated the tradition of being Fire Lord to a precise law; even the Fire Lord's attire was bound into the system. Zuko had been following the arbitrary traditions and demands to ease the country's transition into their new Fire Lord, as suggested by Iroh. But soon, he'd be meeting with the impossibly old senators to vote on making them obsolete. Slowly, he would destroy every single ridiculous law put into place by his family. He just had to be patient, which wasn't a strong trait of his.

However, the month being Fire Lord had also been immensely successful for Zuko. He was proud of the amount of work they'd done so far, and of many representatives from the nations who didn't harbor unnecessary animosity toward him. Of course, some still did. And Aang, Katara, and Toph had all thwarted more assassination attempts against him, a fact Zuko really didn't care to think about. He couldn't dwell on how many people still hated him, and his nation.

The ground far beneath him rumbled and a column of stone lifted Toph onto the roof. She heaved a tormented sigh. "You got a thing against the ground, Sparky? Playing a game of _**T****he Floor is Lava**_?

"Another weird Earth Kingdom game?"

"Sometimes I pity you for your unfulfilling childhood." She paused. "Not that mine was any better. I never actually played any of those games, just heard about them."

She stepped from the earthen column that crashed back to the ground, and came to sit next to Zuko. He glanced over the side of the rooftop. "You didn't break the ceiling this time," he said, surprised. "I was expecting to have to explain it to my uncle."

"Yeah, well, maybe I've grown less destructive in my old age."

"Toph, just last week you took out an entire wing of the palace in a spar against Aang."

"That was a demonstration!" Toph threw up her hands in outrage. "Everybody was watching! I wasn't just going to allow the Fire Nation to think that the best Earthbender in the world is something to scoff at!"

"You could have killed, like, a lot of people."

"I checked beforehand! Nobody was in there. You told me it was Ozai's wing. I figured it needed some renovation, anyway!"

"So you were planning to destroy my palace?" Zuko tried to sound as offended as possible even though she was right, of course. Like always, infuriatingly enough.

"I know you're not mad, Sparky. Stop trying to be dramatic."

"I could never be mad at you, Toph."

Zuko let his eyes sweep over her, taking in her dramatically patterned dress and neatly done hair, how the thin stitching in the neck dipped down her back and exposed her shoulder blades. His eyes lingered on the pale skin covering the sharp bones and he thought about how it would feel to rub a finger across the ridge.

"Sparky? You okay?"

"What?" Zuko shook his head a little, snapping himself from his thoughts.

"Your heart's going crazy. I thought maybe you'd seen Twinkletoes and Katara making out again."

"I- what?" Zuko said, still trying to catch up from the path his thoughts had taken him on. "They were kissing?"

"Yep!" Toph said, grinning at him. "Earlier, just after dinner. I felt it. It was gross, and cute, all at once. About time they bit the bullet."

"Oh," breathed Zuko. He hadn't realized Aang and Katara weren't already a couple. "I'm happy for them! Will Aang be going back to the South Pole with Katara, then?"

"I'm not sure," Toph said thoughtfully. "But that's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually. Why we're here brooding on this rooftop of your uncle's."

"Mmm?"

"I'm staying here."

"On top of my uncle's tea shop?"

"No! Well, maybe that, sometimes. But I'm definitely staying in Ba Sing Se."

"I thought you hated the city?" Zuko asked. He felt more disappointed than he'd ever admit to know that his friends were moving away; an inevitability he'd tried to ignore for as long as possible. He'd miss them. He'd especially miss her.

"I do hate it," Toph insisted. "But this is a good city for what I want to do."

"What are you going to do?"

Her bleached eyes gleamed. "I'm going to start a Metalbending academy. Some of the best Earthbenders in the world are employed here, or teaching their own students. Just imagine the talent I could get."

"That's an amazing idea!" Zuko said enthusiastically.

"Yes, it is." She slid closer to him, into his side. His arm automatically caught her waist. "It's going to be fucking awesome. And not to get all emotional or anything-"

His heart leapt, strangely.

"But I'm gonna miss the crap out of you, Sparky."

Zuko caught the waver in her voice and turned towards her, taking in how the dimming light fell across her cheekbones and illuminated the ridges of her petite nose.

"We've been looking for ways to draw other benders to the Fire Nation," Zuko said thoughtfully. "After your Metalbending academy takes off, you could begin a second one in the capital. There will be more than enough demand, I bet. And you'd be doing me a favor."

She grinned at the prospect. "I like that," she said. "I like that a lot."

"Just let me know when."

"Promise?"

"Promise." He squeezed her harder. "Oh, and Toph?"

"Yes, Fire Lord Sparky?"

"I'll miss the crap out of you, too."

She threw back her head and laughed. "Of course you will! I'm awesome!"

Zuko rolled his eyes, unable to argue.


	4. Hide and Seek

**Hide and Seek**

* * *

_Four years later..._

When Toph thought of her return to the Fire Nation to start the continent's first Metal Bending academy, she usually imagined standing triumphantly at the helm of a ship she'd built herself as they sailed into the bay, garnishing the idea with trumpets or horns or glorious canon blasts or something else cool and impressive and intimidating. What Toph did not imagine was making her entrance leaning over the back of the ship, praying to the gods for the infernal rocking to stop so that her stomach would settle.

But, Toph reasoned with herself, one could not be a perfect mix of completely wonderful and terrifying at each possible moment. It would just be too hard, especially when one had severe motion sickness issues.

Still, Toph pulled herself together and walked commandingly to the front of the ship as the sailors called out at seeing the land. She would take her idyllic stance at the helm, covered in her own vomit or not.

Really, she was just excited to be out of Ba Sing Se, enough to gladly brave the turbulent waters and not send Aang a hawk begging for him to fly her there on Appa, whose sickness-inducing jolts she was at least used to. The war may have been over, but four short years were too few to fix how fucked up the city had become. Toph shuddered. Kuei, back on the throne, was a complete pushover, the rules and walls stood strong, and classism was now mixed with a healthy dose of racism as the city accepted its first permanent Fire Nation immigrants. She'd called it long ago: Ba Sing Se was the worst city ever.

Toph had taken to escaping on weekends, leaving on her own for the joy of not being in a city like that one. Or she threw herself into her Metalbending, which was even more gratifying. In addition to figuring out the best way to train master Earthbenders to manipulate the stubborn element, she was developing programs to teach children to learn metalbending alongside earth; a much more natural progression, in her opinion. And as it turned out, training other Earthbenders wasn't as much of a notorious pain as training the Avatar. Earthbenders accepted Toph's commanding and unforgiving teaching style as it matched their own personalities. With the second graduating class, Toph had left the command of the school to one of the most capable benders she'd trained (along with some rather detailed threats regarding what she'd do to them if they allowed it to become mismanaged), and set off to finally take Zuko up on his offer to host the next academy.

They'd arranged the details quickly over messenger hawk, with the help of a nervous student Toph had picked from the lot to be her assistant for the matter, after he assured her that he could read and write effectively. They were stupid, quick, informal letters that were immensely unsatisfying and exactly like Zuko's usual meager correspondence. Of all the things Toph figured this would be the difficult part of Team Avatar's inevitable split, the hardest was how damned busy all of them got, how she would go months without hearing anything from any of them. Then, she'd forget to write back herself when something more important happened on her end, like a new Earth Kingdom invention that needed precise Metalbending to function perfectly, or one of her more rambunctious students tearing a crevice into the ground so ferociously that they caused a shock wave to course through the entire city. Toph had been so proud she'd teared up, and flat-out refused when Kuei demanded she make a public apology for the scare.

And it had been grueling, exhausting, and _wonderful _work she loved every second of everyday. But some days, Toph's stomach crawled and skin pricked with the loneliness of it all. Because maybe there was something about being an internationally recognized war hero and the greatest Earthbender in the world (her Earth Rumble Six belt was tucked securely into her duffel bag below decks) that made her less than approachable. And maybe she was a little resentful about the nights she'd returned to her house in Ba Sing Se- in the four years, it had not reached _home_ status in her mind- slightly tipsy, and alone.

However, Toph didn't like to make a habit of staying emotional for too long. Her Earthbender realism and objectiveness kicked in sooner or later, as it did now, when her ears began to catch the sound of the Fire Nation marketplace by the docks. She hadn't had a way to accurately judge how close they were. She retrieved her things from her tiny cabin and, when the ship docked, was the first off, sliding down the metal siding before the gangplank had lowered.

"Iroh!" Toph would have recognized the weight, wide stance, and contented rocking anywhere. She walked to him, greeting him with a hug around his full waist. "I'm glad to see they didn't send a procession or anything."

Iroh laughed his familiar belly laugh, embracing her back. "We came close. The Earth Kingdom Ambassador wanted to send one, but he was- gracefully talked down by the Fire Lord."

"Thank the gods for small favors."

"I figured a smaller welcoming party would better befit you." He shifted his weight to look behind her. "Where are your things?"

Toph held up her duffel. "I'm set."

Iroh's voice warmed. "There's a simple joy to living minimally, of course. Come, I'll show you to your house."

"This from the man whose tea and liquor collection nearly exceeds a five hundred square foot cellar?"

"Five hundred? How did you hear such nonsense?"

A manic grin blessed Toph's lips. "A little bird told me, Iroh. Oh, and I _built_ it for you."

They set off through the marketplace. Toph wiggled her toes in the ground, feeling the bustling shops and lively gaits of the people. "They seem happier than last time," she commented appreciatively. "When I left four years ago, people were still so apprehensive and angry."

Iroh nodded as he walked, pace slowing every so often to inspect a stall. "One of the greatest parts of living through the war's end was the chance to experience human resilience at its finest. We always have the choice to move on, to be happy. It's what I keep telling Firelord Zuko." He heaved a sigh. "But as always, the man refuses to listen to me. He works ten times as hard as anybody else so that they can prosper."

Toph wasn't surprised in the slightest. "I'm assuming that's what Sparky is up to now, too. Rather than welcoming me to his great nation. Working?"

Iroh put a hand on her shoulder. Toph's attempt at keeping her voice level clearly hadn't worked. Even in their first meeting, both of them dirt poor and tired and hunted through the Earth Kingdom countryside, he'd been able to see clearly through her walls. It's why she liked the man; they were on an equal playing field that way. "He had an important council meeting scheduled last-minute. Believe me when I tell you he objected to the timing."

They were walking up an incline now, and the throngs of people had quickly died out. Toph figured they were drawing close to the more affluent part of the city; the cobbled stone and intricate carving work around the area was similar to what she'd grown used to around the palace.

Iroh lead her right, then left, then right again until she was standing at the door to one of the larger houses. "This one's yours," he told her.

Toph pushed inside to find large rooms that all seemed functional and minimally decorated. She walked to the low table and placed a hand flat against it. "It's all stone," she breathed, surprised.

Iroh's heart gave a happy jump. "Correct! Zuko commissioned a team of the nation's Earthbenders to construct it for you. But the best part is farther inside, I was informed."

They continued through the rooms of the house until Toph felt it; another set of exterior doors, leading to a massive courtyard. She moved through them and her toes touched grass.

The courtyard was square and open, with foliage only around the very edges. The rest of the land was flat and grassy and unobstructed. Toph felt an easy smile slide over her face. It would be perfect for Earthbending, or sleeping, or just getting away from the crowds from earlier.

She walked up to the center of the yard, where a weird weight beckoned her over. It felt hollow and round and it wasn't until Toph had bent and picked it up that she realized what it was.

"A melon," Toph muttered, fingers grazing the cool, smooth surface.

"What did you say?"

She raised her voice. "Your idiot nephew got me a fucking **_melon_ **as a housewarming gift!? How he ever got put in charge of a country is completely beyond me, honestly, his sense of humor never fails to astound-"

"Well now, I'm glad that I'm still up to par as far as that's concerned."

Iroh spun in surprise. Toph, on the other hand, turned her head and aimed a smile at the doorway where she'd felt him arrive. "I was wondering when you'd show up!"

Zuko stepped onto the dirt of the courtyard. "Uncle," he greeted, giving the man a hug. "Sorry again for forcing you to be a one-man greeting party."

Iroh laughed. "Not a problem. I've been told I have the personality of five men!"

"Yeah, and the body mass of even more!" Toph joked from behind them. They broke apart and Zuko stepped toward her, gathering her into his arms. Toph's body molded with his as she was enveloped by his familiar heat, pressing the side of her cheek into his chest. Iroh picked up the melon and left the courtyard.

"Good to see you," she heard from above. His voice had grown a little deeper, and Toph delighted in the rumbling of his chest as he spoke. She squeezed him tighter.

"Yeah, yeah, I'd probably say the same but- you know."

He laughed, threading her fingers in her hair. "You're wearing it differently."

"Yes well, I thought I'd change it up for the occasion. You know- big believer in appearances that I am. Katara even helped. She taught me how to braid before she and Aang went off to live in sin." Toph felt his back; Zuko had filled out more since she'd seen him and grown proportionally to her; she still only reached his chest in height.

Iroh returned with the melon, freshly sliced, and they broke apart. Toph bent the three of them seats in the shade of one of the larger trees to eat. For a while, they sat in silence. Toph appreciated the fruit and warmth and stable ground. Soon, Iroh asked for her to recline his chair and his breathing became deep and even.

"So, our great Avatar is living in sin now?" Zuko prompted.

Toph grinned at him, crossing her legs as she sucked the juices from the fruit. "Well they're not married yet, are they?"

"I'm pretty sure we would have heard about that."

"They're off at some Air Temple or another." Toph waved her hand. "They're still moving around a lot. Aang likes to give me some of the more- intimate details of their life in his letters."

"Does he?" Zuko sounded amused.

"For some reason, I think Aang likes the idea that I'd need someone to read them aloud. Maybe he thinks it'd embarrass me, or something." Toph contorted her features into an evil grin. "But the joke's on him, because I just pick whichever student is the most vocal about how cool they think the Avatar is, and force them to do my reading."

"You're fucking maniacal." Zuko said appreciatively.

"You're the one chewing on a descendant of our great Melon Lord!"

Toph felt for Zuko. He'd thrown himself across her newly bent chair, sighing in relief when she molded it to form perfectly against his back. Even now, he seemed to be carrying himself differently. Toph wondered how much she'd missed, how much he'd changed, while she was away.

"Do you think Katara knows?" Zuko asked.

"Oh, I'm sure both of them are in on it. I'm also certain a lot of it is exaggerated. Do you really think Twinkletoes would do anything she wouldn't approve of?"

"I quite literally cannot imagine."

"He's whipped." Toph shrugged. "And Sokka's married to Suki, so you know he is. And you're married to your country. I'm the group's last chance for autonomy."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Zuko let his head fall backwards against the stone.

"What were your meetings on today, anyway?"

"It's the annual Fire Nation Summit," Zuko explained. "Like the larger one we developed for all nations, but just for the country. Delegates are elected to represent each of the nation's provinces, and they gather in a room and talk about trade and exportation for hours on end. And it's the Fire Lord's duty to oversee it, and settle feuds."

"Feuds?" Toph liked the sound of two old, gnarled men fighting over the trade of cabbages from two of the insignificant islands.

"Incomprehensible screaming. Sometimes they begin to bend at each other, and the entire coconut industry will withhold their exports until the other apologies. It's hell."

"Gods forbid the Fire Nation make do without their coconuts." Toph drew a circle in the soft ground underfoot with her toe. "When does it end?"

"Tonight. There's a culminating dinner and party, featuring food from across the nation."

"Sounds terrible."

"I was wondering if you wanted to come?"

"Absolutely."

"Thank Agni." Zuko stood and stretched, looking down at her. "I'm going back to the palace to finish up a few things." Toph followed his footsteps to the doorway, where they paused.

"Toph?"

"Sparky?"

"I'm really glad you're here to stay for a while. I- I needed it."

"Lack of company seems to come with the job description of being Fire Lord," Toph reasoned.

"That too," Zuko said. "But I'm talking about you, specifically."

With that he left, leaving Toph's stomach to twist weirdly. Iroh stood and stretched, beginning to clear up the rinds. When Toph went to help, she thought she heard the old man humming a tune.

* * *

Zuko had these things down to a science.

He'd schedule the dinners for late, because the older party guests always arrived an hour early. He'd failed to see why, and, in a stroke of inspiration, scoured the book of laws Ozai put into place until he found one requiring an early attendance of an hour. Zuko remembered the man's notoriously short temper for tardiness; this must have been his reaction. Zuko had massaged the bridge of his nose, willing down the anger and resentment and fury that always accompanied thoughts of his father, and annulled the law the very next day.

But the nobles and other older guests still arrived the hour early. It was another infuriating intricacy about being Fire Lord. So he'd schedule the events late, spend his first hour taking advantage of the quiet to speak to the guests who had already arrived, and then wasn't obligated to talk with them for the remainder of the evening, when he'd be screaming over the brasses of the band and the rabble of voices so they could hear. Then, he'd beeline to the tables for food before the rest of the guests finished their welcomes and began to eat, for it was his only chance. Then, he'd wade through boring conversation the rest of the evening, or awkwardly ward off the inevitable advances of women.

They came out of hiding for these events. Dressed in the season's cuts, faces heavy under the weight of makeup, and wearing far too much perfume. Batting glued-on eyelashes and touching him with pointed nails. A Fire Lord was usually engaged soon after their royal appointment, and the time Zuko was taking seemed to be making them more desperate. He'd even been approached by a man dressed in a deep navy suit, who asked him in a whisper if the reason Zuko wasn't yet married was because he didn't prefer women.

It had actually been the highlight of his night, and he'd smiled at the man and explained politely that no, he wasn't interested, but thanked him for his boldness. Since then, nothing else quite as _eventful_ had happened.

But this night, Zuko thought things might finally have become interesting again as he opened his bedroom door after three steady taps to find Toph on the other side of it.

"Your uncle explained that I should arrive early," she said in way of greeting as she walked past him into his quarters. "You clean up nice, Sparky."

"You keep forgetting those jokes won't work on me," said Zuko lightly, tugging at a sleeve of his robes absentmindedly as he took her in. She cleaned up nicely too. Of course, Toph's face had lengthened somewhat and become less round in even the year since he'd seen her. Her dress was patterned on the bottom, her skin was still creamy and her jet black hair shone in the thick braid she'd slung over a shoulder and Zuko was struck by how pretty she really looked. The dress was sleeveless and exposed lean, muscled arms; the cinched waist emphasized the curve of her hip.

Zuko swallowed, commanding his mind to be reasonable, completely, unquestionably certain he didn't want to dissect what it was he was feeling. He glanced at himself once more in the mirror, ignoring the flush of his cheeks, surveying the topknot with the crown thrust in the center, his own alabaster skin, and the deep maroon robe that was light and comfortable, yet still looked like he had tried. Toph sat on the ground, curling her toes.

"I like what you did with the new wing," she commented.

"I had to put something here after you tore down the old one."

"Did I do that? It's been such a long time, who remembers anymore?"

"Well, the city construction workers, for one. You're probably on their Most Wanted list." Zuko felt his face contort into a smile, stretching muscles that felt as if they'd gotten more use in the last day than in the last few years.

"There's one thing I can't understand," Toph continued.

"What is it?" Zuko sat beside her, gladly not giving a second thought to the impact it might have on his robes.

"Almost everything in here is metal," Toph mused. "Or stone. Why? Firebenders always seem inclined to decorate with wood, gods know why given their inclination to burn everything-"

"I noticed that," Zuko said. "The number of times I was punished for burning a piece of furniture when I was younger-"

"But why is it all metal?" She asked again, as Zuko stood and reached a hand to help her as well. She linked an arm around his.

Zuko thought about it. "I guess I was thinking about you. I've been building things in stone more. You know-" He stammered. "It makes things easier when you visit, right?" It sounded quite stupid to say our loud.

He didn't miss the way her cheeks pinked. "I'll add inspired _Fire Lord interior décor_ to my list of crowning achievements."

They made their way to the central wing, and into the usual atrium. Tables were placed artfully by the food, and as Zuko had predicted, some of the more elderly guests had already begun to arrive.

They were first approached by an anxious looking man. "Fire Lord! I have to speak with you. The

Raberoos on our island- they're eating all our crops! Should never have been bred here-"

"Oh, those damned Raberoos!" Toph piped up next to him. "Whatever will we do?"

Zuko suppressed a smile, but in the next few minutes, Toph and the man had hashed out a way to transport them safely away from the island.

They moved away, and Zuko took her arm again._ "Those damned Raberoos?"_

"You almost laughed, Sparky. Good enough for me. Oh, this lady's pissed. Watch out."

Sure enough, a red-faced woman was their next obligation. "Fire Lord Zuko, I wondered if we might talk?" She demanded more than asked.

"You have my attention."

"_Alone_?" She said, looking pointedly at Toph, who scowled.

"Representative Una, may I present you to Toph Beifong? I think you would recognize her as the Avatar's Earthbending teacher and war hero."

Toph flashed a grin as the woman's face blanched, holding out a calloused hand to shake. "Hey. I can bend metal."

Zuko snorted.

And so it went; Toph was a wonderful guest, dripping in sarcasm and her personal brand of humor, and served as a buffer for the horrid conversations Zuko did not want to be having. Her snide comments caused Zuko to lose his composure a few times, and frankly, he couldn't remember when he'd been this happy at one of these gatherings.

However, other attendees didn't seem quite as pleased to have her there. Zuko caught whispers and quite a few nasty looks from some of the women who usually would have been flirting with him by this point in the night. It was only when he left Toph to guard their seats while he got a second helping of food ("Don't let anybody sit here. No, I'm serious. These people have a thing with stealing chairs. My nation is sneaky, I tell you. Guard that seat with your life." "Okay. I will literally murder anybody who tries to touch your chair, Fire Lord Sparky.") that he was confronted by one of them, a young woman swinging a long curtain of shining hair behind her, dressed in red, of course.

"Fire Lord Zuko," she said softly, batting her eyelashes. "Ju Yin."

"Nice to meet you." At least this woman couldn't sense when he was lying.

She leaned closer to him. Zuko turned his eyes away from the deep cut of her dress. "I find the state of dress of your guest rather _inappropriate_, if you understand what I'm saying?"

"What?" Zuko asked, turning to Toph where she'd put her feet up on the second chair. A picture of luxury. He thought she looked wonderful. "What do you mean?"

"Attending a formal gathering without shoes? You should be insulted, and you spending so much time with her is only going to send the wrong message-"

Zuko turned back to the woman, examining the flecking layers of makeup. He felt a nostalgic anger, intoxicating and sweet, fill his chest; his hands became hot, and he quickly fisted them.

"I'm not going to explain to you why she doesn't wear shoes," he said softly, leaning in even closer. He felt his voice shake and watched as the woman's eyes widened. "But I would let that girl attend in rags if she wanted. And if you ever again feel like criticizing my guests, then you can be assured you'll not be among them."

He stormed back to the table, not bothering to refill his plate. He wasn't hungry, anyway. Toph raised her eyebrows at him when he sat. "What happened out there?"

Zuko undid his topknot, carding his fingers through his hair roughly. "An- interested party."

"Hmm," Toph sighed, feeling for Zuko's wrist with her own calloused hand, where he knew his pulse still slammed heavily against the thin layer of skin. "Let's get out of here."

"Out of here?" Zuko rubbed his neck, looking around. "I don't know. I'm the host."

She rolled her eyes. "You also lead the entire nation! I think you're allowed to leave early if you want to, Sparky."

It didn't take a lot of thought; this was exactly what Zuko needed. "Let's do it."

Soon, they were on the Fire Nation streets and Zuko realized how long it had been since he'd been out to enjoy the capital's nightlife. It was a weekend and street performers mingled around the crowd. He lifted the hood of his robe instinctively.

"If they complain, I'm claiming kidnap."

"Kidnapping the Fire Lord could only help my reputation, Sparky. I'd appreciate it." Toph stopped beside a lowly lit building. "What's this place?"

"A bar, I think." Zuko looked over the sign's painted characters.

"Perfect. I need some alcohol. And you owe me real Fire Nation liquor, remember?"

"You remember that promise, but you don't remember tearing down a wing of my palace?"

"Yeah well, I still had something to gain from one of them. Duh."

They took seats at a table in the back, and Toph pushed the menu towards Zuko with instructions to simply order something good, that would get her drunk. He complied happily. When the drinks came, they downed them quickly, and ordered another few.

"Ah yes," Toph said loudly, swishing the drink around her mouth. "Yes, this has the woodsy taste of the- Fire Nation woods."

"This isn't a blind taste test, Toph."

"Bite me, Sparky. To me, it's all a blind taste test. Might as well make it fun."

Zuko rolled his eyes and looked at the bottle, disconcerted to find it had come from a wooded province south of the capital. He decided not to tell her.

After a while, Zuko's head was swimming happily. "I feel more relaxed than I've been in years," he told her.

"Do you ever get out of the palace and just ditch the obligations, even for a little bit?"

Zuko thought about it. "No."

"You've got a real problem, Sparky."

Zuko smiled resentfully. "It doesn't help when you don't actually have any friends in the city."

"You're the Fire Lord! You should know everyone. People should be lining up, desperate to be friends with you."

"I do, but it doesn't mean they're ready to treat me like a person with actual flaws."

"Oh." A beat. "Is that what happened with Mai?"

Zuko laughed, enjoying the lazy sound as it rolled off of his tongue despite the deep anguish that flared in his chest at how that ended. "Kind of. She just complained about how passionate I was."

Toph kicked him under the table. "Couldn't take the heat."

"She liked being a blank slate," Zuko explained. "She used her inscrutability as armor. And she hated that I showed my emotions. So we split up. It was nothing too dramatic. And since then-" Zuko carded a hand through his hair, falling freely to his eyes- "it's been really lonely, if I'm honest."

"I know what you mean," the Earthbender muttered softly.

"You do?"

"Like I said before, Sparky- _everyone_ is gone," she whispered. Zuko watched her fingers tighten around her glass. "Everyone was paired off, and almost nobody wants to visit Ba Sing Se. I mean, it's a disaster there, and frankly our memories in the city just make it worse. I'm alone..."

"Didn't they hawk you? I sent a few, you could have told us-"

Toph's bleached eyes suddenly blazed halting his words. "Yeah, and have to dictate what it was I felt to an assistant to then _write it down_? Do you have any idea how embarrassing that would be? My letters aren't private, Sparky. And I'm not about to send you a ten ton rock with all my thoughts carved into it. As much as I considered it."

Zuko felt as if a weight had dropped, leaden, into his stomach. "Agni. I'm sorry, Toph. I guess that didn't occur to me." It really didn't in his mind. For so long he's held Toph at a very high standard and most it spawned from her own attitude. Her condition slips his mind more than a rabaroo on ice.

"Yeah, you just thought I had really good handwriting despite being fucking _blind_."

"No, that's not it." Zuko sighed and tangled fingers through hers, noticing fondly that they still had their signature dirt coated underneath the nails. She squeezed his hand, hard, whilst downing her drink with the other. "I just thought- you always seemed happy. Confident." Frankly, it was weird to think of Toph as someone who needed others, someone who got lonely, too. "Let's work out a way to send messages back and forth, where you can use your Earthbending to read and write."

Toph smiled. "Let's get out of here."

They wandered the city longer, passing through wide streets and narrow cobbled alleyways until most of the residents had gone to bed. Zuko refused to untangle his fingers from hers, and Toph didn't seem to mind.

"This is more of what I remember this city to be like."

"Quiet?" He guessed.

"No. Worshiping Ozai." She pointed and Zuko realized they'd wandered into his least favorite part of the city; the one that was still overshadowed by a massive, bronze sculpture of his father; thirty feet tall, and standing on a large marble pedestal. Zuko's anger burned more freely with the assistance of the drink.

He growled. "The sculptor promised he'd make a new one. I just wanted to burn it down in the meantime." Zuko stood before the statue with his fists clenched and fire in his belly struggling to flow out. "I hate it."

"Hmm," Toph murmured as she walked over to the base and tapped it with a fist, her other hand flat on the metal, hearing the vibrations. "Fuck waiting around." She spun to him, nearly falling over. "I could sculpt it into something else for you right now," she declared.

Zuko blinked. "Toph, you're drunk."

"And I'm an amazing Metalbender, don't forget that! I"m Unstoppable! Not to be deterred by something as simple as alcohol!"

Zuko sighed but allowed himself to look up at the sculpture. He really did hate the thing; a massive eyesore. The idea of having it gone was almost too good to be true. "What would you put there instead?"

"To best utilize the current form, I'd say we should just make it if you, instead."

"We?" Zuko rose a brow.

Toph rolled her eyes. "Yes. Me to do all the hard labor and talent and actual work, you to stand there and be my model."

She walked back to him and flicked off her dress, from a hidden tie in the side. With that article of clothing gone it shown the alabaster skin of her shoulders and forarms. Results of training shown with every movement and subtle but rigid sway of her shoulder as she moved closer to him. Zuko looked away. "What are you doing?"

"Getting comfortable. I hate this stupid dress."

Zuko cast around for something to say. His mind felt as if it had gone blank. "It looked nice, though."

She snorted. "Yes, and we've already established how big of a deal that is for me." Zuko peeked at her taking in much more observations as before to see that she was standing in her chest bindings and tight leggings that extended just above her knees. He turned his head away, trying not to focus on the exposed skin on her stomach or the tight fitting clothes.

"Come here, Sparky. And take off that robe."

His heart nearly leap out his chest. "What? Why?"

"Because I'm going to touch your face again, you idiot. Unless you'd prefer the statue resemble you before you were even the Fire Lord?"

"Don't let the residents hear you name-calling," he reprimanded jokingly, trying to keep his voice light as he stepped towards her and sat when she motioned for him to, crossing his legs.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want them to know their Fire Lord has feelings that can be hurt! The first in generations! Now hold still. I'm working here."

Zuko breathed apprehensively as she raised her hands towards him, and although he followed the motion with his eyes, his body still gave an involuntary jolt when they made contact.

It was just like before. Surprisingly feather-light, Toph's fingers ghosted across his face, lingering on his nose and moving down to his chin. He wasn't cold, but shivered anyway.

"You've grown a beard," she noticed.

Zuko shrugged. "Just want to match my uncle."

"Hah! Good luck with that one. His is impressive, from what I remember."

Her fingers slid up his cheeks and to his scar, examining the jutting lines it carved into his hairline, brushing the brow and lashes on his unscarred side as well.

"Don't be nervous," Toph said after a few more tentative touches. She noticed how he'd shiver and shift beneath her fingers nearly ruining the rough picture of him she sculpted in mind. "I'm going to have to feel down your body, too... As reference," she added in.

He swallowed. "Okay." Zuko was so close he could smell the liquor on her breath, and then her fingers were sliding down his jaw to his neck. Zuko hissed a breath in as he felt his body respond quite unbidden to the touch; the familiar lightheaded feeling, and the pooling of warmth in his lower stomach. Agni damned alcohol.

"You're robes, i need to reach within him so don't freak out on me."

"Uh, y-yeah okay." Zuko breathed in as her fingers drifted to his shoulders, probing the slant and musculature, before moving to his chest. He suppressed a moan amidst the breathe that are meant to calm him.

A single thought crossed him mind, this was not a good idea, not at all. Not when his body was playing tricks on him and the girl in front of him was half dressed and wild and quite pretty despite- perhaps because of- the mess. Toph sighed a little as her hands slid to the small of his back and felt him jerk.

"What?" He asked, self conscious of how easily she and alcohol and feathery light touches were making him come apart in the middle of the street.

"You used to be comfortable around me, Sparky."

"I'm comfortable!" He stressed.

"Yeah, tell that to your heartbeat." She moved farther down, probing the circumference of his abdomen, and touching a hip. Zuko let his head fall backwards, eternally grateful she couldn't see the burning of his cheeks. What was wrong with him?

"Stay still."

"Sorry." He drew in another gasping breath as her hands touched the top of his thighs lightly, and trailed towards his knees. "I'm just ticklish." That must have been what it was.

"Mhmm," she murmured from above him. "Okay. Torture is over, Sparky." Suddenly she pushed him back away from forcing him to take two steps back to catch himself. Zuko grunted from the strong shove to gave her a look. She simply brushed off her hands as if taking off the dust from a day's work. She flashed an impish grin down to him. "I'm gonna go punch your dad's face in now to take a seat and watched the master work." Toph rose her heel and stamped it to the ground. A bench of earth rose behind him.

Zuko sat quiet, pulse still thundering, undecided if he missed the feel of her hands on him or not. All that strength in such a small package shocked him even to this day. He watched as Toph made her way deliberately to the statue and earthbend herself up a large column of rock so that she was at the same level as the head. She turned back to him.

"Just to confirm with you, Fire Lord," she yelled down, far louder than necessary. "You're condoning my vandalism of this city property?"

Agni damn it. "Get on with it!" He shouted.

She snickered. "I could feel your eyes roll from up here!" Toph turned back to Ozai's face, flashed it two middle fingers, and punched it so hard that the head almost dislocated.

"Spoiler alert!" She called down to Zuko, who pressed a thumbs-up into the rock beside him, just in case she noticed.

It was fascinating to watch Toph bend the metal. Her style was different than what Zuko remembered; she moved her fingers over it like she'd done to Zuko, coercing certain parts of the sculpture inwards or outwards, carving exact, soft lines in the material. She bent up more columns of stone to move around the form and, slowly, Zuko watched his father's body mold into his own, noticed with some satisfaction how many changes needed to be made. Perhaps there was more of his mother in him than he'd thought. He sat back, remembering her.

The crashing of stone snapped Zuko from his thoughts and Toph was on the ground again, making her way rather unsteadily towards Zuko. He looked up at the statue. "It's too dark to see."

"Oh no, what a nightmare," she muttered back from memory lane, and slumped into his side. Zuko lifted an arm around her shoulders, grateful of the time his body had to calm down.

They sat and waited there until the sun rose, casting its first pink rays of light onto the copper face. Zuko gasped. It looked exactly like him. The sculpture's hair was long and flowing free, and the way it was standing wasn't an obnoxious Firebending pose like his father's. Instead, it was casual, proud, and happy.

"It's amazing, Toph," Zuko whispered. She just smiled and burrowed deeper into his side.

"Glad you approve, Sparky. Make sure parties interested in their own gigantic copper statue know where to find me."

They made their way back through the city. Zuko enjoyed how the girl leaned on him, clearly exhausted and needing the extra support. Giving it was something he was good at, when it came to Toph Beifong.

They made their way into her quiet house, and Zuko carried her towards the bedroom. There was a thin mattress on the ground, just thick enough to mute some of the less important vibrations. Toph slumped into it gratefully and Zuko allowed his eyes to travel over her face.

"I'll see you in the morning," he whispered before he made to turn away.

Her hand caught his, tight. He looked at her face, tired but determined, eyes aimed towards him.

"Or you could stay," she said.

Zuko felt his pulse jump as much as Toph did, his mouth suddenly became very dry. "What?"

She grimaced. "Just- to sleep, Sparky. Please..."

He stood aghast at what he's witnessing. He's faintly heard Toph sound so... vulnerable. She's as hard and unmovable as the very stone she bends but this plea shown almost a crack in the armor. "Okay," he agreed. Zuko removed his maroon robe and boots, sliding onto the mat beside her. Toph took his arm and moved it underneath her head, turning her back into his chest as he settled around her. She grabbed on the arm the began to wrap around her same with the fabric of his silky trousers leg.

"You're so warm," She mumbled appreciatively.

"Glad to be of service." Zuko breathed in the earthy smell of her hair and pulled her tighter into his chest. Toph mewed and drew deeper into his embrace and quickly fell asleep in his arms. Zuko took one last look of the women before him before fatigue from the long night and warmth from the both of him smothered him.

He closed his eyes and was asleep within seconds.


	5. Truth or Dare

**Truth or Dare**

* * *

The first thing Toph noticed when she awoke the next morning was that she was no longer on that turbulent monstrosity of a ship that brought her to the Fire Nation. And that was a good sign. The best sign even of today being a good day.

The next was an enveloping, skin prickling warmth; the kind that came from sitting close to a campfire, or drinking a cup of Iroh's tea too quickly. Or, apparently, the kind that came from a Firebender's arms wrapped closely around one's body and torso tight to the back.

Toph trailed a finger up Zuko's arm curiously, thrown casually across her waist. She remembered well the touches, pokes, and prods she made on his face and torso but not so much his arms. His skin, she found it smooth same with him muscles being soft, but she knew the strength that rested within them. She smirked a bit at this and her situation. She hated going to sleep alone, but equally disliked waking up with company, not being much of a morning person, and was grateful that Zuko didn't stir when she maneuvered herself out from underneath him. Instead, he rolled to his back and continued his familiar, heavy, and rhythmic breathing.

Toph climbed up from the mat and stretched, rejoicing in the ache in her neglected muscles and the smell of copper on her hands. That only meant one thing: she'd bent something yesterday that had challenged her. She knows it turned out pretty awesome too, if she said so herself. She remembered the happy spike of Zuko's heart when he saw it, finally severed from another reminder of Ozai. His approval made something warm stir in her stomach, probably the same something that had compelled Toph to force him to stay the night with her. Something very few men had the honor of experiencing on top of this. Well, she chocked it up as simply missing him. She'd missed him for far longer than should be allowed.

Who knows?

Toph rolled her shoulder and flicked out her arms, getting her muscles awake. She extracted her usual clothes from the still unpacked duffel flung unceremoniously on the floor and pulled them over her bindings. The dress she'd worn was gone, presumably still on the street, which was no great loss. She hated dresses anyway and only wore it for the sake of formality. She tried to twist her hair into something out of the way, failed, and decided to leave it or maybe cut it later. She couldn't be bothered either way. Then again she remember a time when someone said her hair was better long. She can barely remember so it doesn't matter.

Toph knelt beside the mattress, extending an arm to touch Zuko's forehead, playing with the soft strands that had fallen on it, concentrating on his even breathing. She'd missed it tremendously too; yesterday, her friend had been jumpy, nervous, on edge. His pulse had begun to beat rapidly at weird intervals. He'd held himself back from her, which she wasn't used to.

She heaved a sigh.

Maybe he'd just changed. Maybe she had too. It's been all of four years since they'd really gotten a chance to spend time quality together. Mishaps came up here or there bringing them together, best constituting as events. One day at the most then they separated once more. Maybe things have stayed the same because of this, just frozen until they confronted each other again. Toph ignored the wrench in her gut at the thoughts plaguing her mind. Instead she concentrated on the smooth stone of the ceiling, carving large characters into it with her bending:

**_One of us had to be productive today. If you need me, I'll be scouting locations for the greatest Metalbending academy of all time._**

Learning how to write had to be one of the biggest pains in her ass to date. Right next to the nagging of her mother and father when she visited them. Of course, only a select few knew she can write. It was literally touch and go for months with a little procrastinating on her part. Better stuff to do like beating up robbers or taking care of rogue Dai Li. She chose that any day over learning how to write and read with her hands. Though, for the bedridden Fire Lord below her, she felt it'd be worth it. Like usual she's right on the money.

Satisfied with her work, she turned to leave the house out to get a little air.

Unlike the slightly pungent stench of the poor quarters mixed with the mixture of scents from perfume and make up from the diamond quarter of Ba Sing Se, the scent in the capital of the Fire Nation is quite, okay? She felt it to be a definite Improvement to the air she's been suffocating on for the last 4 years. Of all the areas she's visited and disliked in the world, the hot air balloon during the finale of the war was more preferable than Ba Sing Se.

The scent of spices tickled her nose, especially the spark rocks she picked up when she passed by a couple homes. Some made with metal supports which she felt shocked by. When did fire nation citizens realize that metal is sturdier and stronger than wood? Of course, this was a jest in her mind. She's learned much of these people thanks to firsthand experience during and after the war. Visits from Iroh as well helped tremendously especially once two years ago. He returned to that one tea shop: The Jasmine Dragon. Toph couldn't care less for tea, having drunken it for years during her "Proper Lady" lessons, but Iroh's warmth and passion always drew her attention. Made her let go of the negativity.

"I guess it's just his charm," she muttered softly to herself.

After the potential upstart of the war she missed so many misadventures with the Gaang. Some days it made her a little irate that she wasn't invited to kick some ass, at the least. She's been on a few surrounding her friends and helped them, but when it came her and some of shit she's been thrown into she stood alone. Its made her wonder. She didn't ask for help and everyone else has their own lives to live but still. Zuko's own issues here in the capital must be weighing him down hard every day. At least he has support from his uncle, mother, sister, and the Kyoshi Warriors; while her dad is somewhere directing a refinery and mother ignores her.

"Good morning, Lady Beifong."

Toph froze. Very rarely can anything get the jump on her, sneak up in her, or get under her senses. Anything living never escapes her sight, or so she thought. She tapped her heel quickly finding the person that snuck up on her. She's female for one and her breathing so evenly leveled that it's hard to distinguish her from the atmosphere. Even her heart beat is usually slow for anyone living. She could've mistaken this level of calm to the old Azula almost.

"You got me at a disadvantage," she joked not that this was abnormal. Who doesn't know the fabulous earth bending teacher if the Avater that discovered metal bending? She's recognized in towns she never knew existed. But, who is this woman that seems to know her? One that stood up from where she previously sat before her, towering over her by the feel of it.

"Forgive me. My son told me much about you same with my brother-in-law. I recognized you almost instantly. You're just as they described although," the woman paused for a moment. Toph could practically feel the heated stare from the woman on her. "Your hair isn't in its usual bun." The woman wasn't lying or maybe she was and she's just that good at hiding it. Azula once more came to mind when gaging this lady's bearing. It's almost spine shivering how alike they are. Their presence isn't sinister and cold like Azula's but reminder her much of how Iroh's, including how this lady spoke to her; full of warmth and kindness. Motherly even. If she's telling the truth then her family knows her and speaks of her. To think she has Fire Nation admirers as well. She bet if she went to the Northern Water Tribe this situation would repeat. The Fire Lady even took note of the condition of her hair and for once Toph felt a bit funny at how messy it is.

Toph smirked up to the woman trying to point her eyes in the general direction of the woman. "Well, I do leave an impression. It's a talent even." She then reached up to her hair. Her hands flowed from years of muscle memory to fix it into an at least presentable state.

"Teehee. Indeed." The woman radiated warmth that made her comfortable. She appeared legitimate. The woman moved over and waved her hand. "Would you like to join me this morning? We can talk a little."

"Sure fire lady," Toph shrugged audibly. The last time she sat down with a stranger he turned out to be one of her greatest influences ever. She's not alone, with ten others around her, but it's an open space.

The Fire Lady noticed how reserved and cautious the young woman was despite appearing so open with her thoughts. She even gave her a nickname that's quite appropriate just like the others she heard. She can see where the intrigue her family held stemmed from. She sat back down on her blanket next to her table with a small kettle of tea on top. Her servants gave her time to rest before the coming of the typical day she grew accustomed to after months back.

Toph reached down touching the table. She dropped down to her butt with her feet out. She rested her arm on the table separating the both of them taking in the scent of tea. It smelled sweet maybe mixed with vulture bee honey. She remembered her father's attempt to synthesize it to prevent any loopy Sokkas from wandering around. Turned out to be profitable as far as she knew. Dad was always a good business man same with her forefathers.

"Would you like some tea Lady Beifong?" The fire lady offered after pouring herself a cup. It's a special brew she ensured would stay warm until they reached this garden she rested at. Without a word from Toph though she poured her a cup and sat it down close to her hand.

"Thanks," Toph muttered a bit irked from the "Lady Beifong" stuff. She's relieved she didn't have to reach for it. Many that serve her food and drinks always put it at a distance, forcing her to look for it because all tables are made of wood nowadays. Would it kill anyone to make metal furniture or at least stone outside of the Earth Kingdom? Fire lady though was considerate enough to place it right next to her hand. Close enough feel the heat radiating off the cup. That scored her a few points.

The fire lady smiled. "I hope my country is suitable and accommodating to your needs."

"It's not bad." Toph picked up the cup and tea and brought it to her nose. Doesn't smell poisoned so she took a couple sips. "Whoa." She leaned back from the taste. It's sweet but not unbearable to the tongue.

"Good?" The fire lady wasn't disappointed to see the blind bandit from legend nodding her head before taking another sip.

"I never liked tea that much," Toph confessed taking in the flavor.

"To some it's an acquired taste, once you get past the bland watery taste."

"I know right." This woman gets it. Drinking hot leaf juice never made sense to her. She'd never call it that to Iroh's face though. He'd probably sit her down and give her a history lesson on tea like she's done Zuko before.

"It does have a power behind it to soothe the spirit especially with good company."

Toph chuckled a bit. "Not the first time I've heard that. I guess it won't be the last to." Toph rose up the cup and nodded. "It's good by the way." The fire lady gave Toph a look. "You asked how I'm liking the place. It's good and I've missed… certain things about it."

"Like what?" Fire lady was very curious but had a general idea of what she's going to mention.

For Toph a few things came to mind. "For one the smell."

"The smell?"

"Yeah. In Ba Sing Se you can walk to places that makes you wanna cover your nose." Toph did just that and waved away the imaginary cloud of stink away.

The Fire Lady giggle a bit. "I see. Well I'm happy the **smell** of this capital is to your liking then."

"It's okay," Toph shrugged. She didn't not like the smell but at least it didn't make her skin crawl. The smell is why her school is in the most rural area of the city. Where it's quiet and she can make as many craters as she wants without getting a noise complaint every five minutes.

"Is there anything or anyone else?"

"Anyone?" Toph rose a brow.

"You mentioned things and assumed maybe a person is one of them. It seems you dosomeone you missed as well. It appears as if they're close so probably here in the capital, maybe. I wager you probably met them yesterday as well based on your tone and expressions." The woman compiled even though she knows who she's mentioning.

"Yeah," Toph grinned. Guess she's not just soothing voices and presences. Fire lady has a brain to. "I did see him and another I've sort of... missed."

The Fire lady smiled down to her cup and tea. This Toph is exactly as she was described. A very fine young lady, strong and independent, but with a softer side she tries and succeeds in containing. It's not enough for her yet. She needs to dig a bit deeper. "Who is this other you "Sort of missed'? Are they nice?"

"He's not bad," Toph turned her head away. "He's very important in this nation that's for sure."

"So he's a noble of high regard?"

"The highest though, I'm sure I could bounce his head off a wall if he crossed me," Toph smirked. She remembered well the many times she witnessed Sparky and his fire shows. He's one of the most powerful fire benders in the world and that's earned.

"You speak highly of him. Do you like him?"

Toph almost tensed but brushed it off quickly with an easy smile. "Yeah I do. Him and I been through a lot and he's a good guy." She spoke the truth but a part of her didn't want to admit whether or not that's the whole truth.

The Fire Lady took note of that quick response and cover up. The intrigue appears to be mutual between the both of them and that's what she wanted to discover more than anything. The fact Toph Beifong called him a "good guy" and never a friend wasn't lost on her. This could mean he's seen as a man past that of a friend or as an acquaintance that wouldn't be blessed with a passing thought. Being a betting woman the Fire Lady would wager on the latter.

Suddenly, a bell rang rousing the attention of the Fire Lady. She glanced back to her servants pointing out the sun. It's rising now meaning it's time to go. "I hope you enjoy your time with these precious people then." The Fire Lady looked back to her servants as they approached. "It seems I must return now. Lady Beifong it was an honor and pleasure to meet you finally."

"No problem Fire Lady. Same here." Toph climbed up to her feet just as the servants reach the table to gather up the blanket and stuff. Toph rolled her shoulders and thought of getting back to the house after getting this breather. Iroh wasn't wrong like usual. "Sharing tea with good people is one of life's delights and all that." She repeated the words from the man himself with her own spin.

The Fire Lady blinked looking upon the young woman with shock. "Yes," she nodded with her smile returning, much different than the ones before. "That is very true."

"And next time call me Toph. I'm not married and Lady Beiforg is my mother." Toph waved and walked off to keep doing what she was before she was stopped by that Fire Lady.

The Fire lady watched the young woman leave with a mysterious look in her eyes. The servants quickly cleaned up the area for them to leave back to the palace. The Fire lady doesn't care for taking carriages or having a dozen servants to follow her during these times. She wanted time to rest away from the palace to think but happened across someone very intriguing.

"Fire Lady, are you ready to go?" Her head servant bowed in front of her.

"Yes." The Fire Lady walked to the main path leading to the palace. Her personal guard walked out from a couple shops and houses to join her on her way up. Her son really needs to hold off on the number of guards but never does.

"Mother." The Fire Lady heard and turned around to greet her son.

"Fire Lord Zuko," the mother of the current Fire Lord, Ursa bowed respectfully.

"Honorable mother," Zuko kowtow to his mother with an expression as serious as hers. They both smiled with Ursa holding out her arms waiting for her son to come into her embrace. Zuko didn't hesitate as he walked into his mother's arms and wrapped his arms around her in a comfortable embrace. It's almost a running joke to have such formalities between them. It only happens once every new moon so doesn't mean anything between them.

Ursa pat her son's back and they both released each other. "Your hair is a mess." She reached up and combed her fingers through his silky locks in an effort to fix his bad case of bed hair. It reminded her much of the state of hair the young Beifong had.

"I know, I just got up," he yawned and rubbed his eyes. Alone he didn't add but slightly upset about that fact. "How was your Tea Time this morning?" He knew his mother likes to get up early to come to the Fire lily guard away from the palace to relax. He noticed her armed guard behind her that were in the immediate area just in case someone attacked her. Her servants as well bowed before him and remained as such until told otherwise.

"It went very well," she smiled. "I even met a very intriguing person."

"Really? Who was it?" Not many people approach his mother without him knowing. He's ensured she's remained under close guard whether or not she condoned it.

"Oh, you'll see soon enough." Ursa smiled as she passed her son and Zuko followed silently confused on what she meant by that. "And what did I tell you about all the guards?"

"They're for your protection."

"My protection or your peace of mind," Ursa giggled softly.

"Both." Zuko smiled. Walking with his mother back to the palace, large set of guards trailing behind them.

* * *

Toph returned to the house later to find Zuko long gone, not that she would have expected him to stay, and a suspicious box of papers on the stoop. One she happened to kick on her way in and nearly bended across the house. Once she calmed down and resisted the urge to destroy the box, plus the man that sent it, she felt around the wood to nothing. Not even any raised lettering.

"At least they're that smart," she scoffed. Not like she could read it after all. She picked it up and took it to the palace, holding the mysterious box at arm's length. There were some friendly Firebenders there, presumably people who could either tell her what the papers were, or at least use them as kindling. She'd go back to Fire Lady but she's probably at her mansion or something. Never got a name to the face (voice) now that she thought of it. Whatever that just left one last place to go.

With that in mind she was out the door again to the palace.

The palace was much quieter than it had been the night before. Toph felt maids in some of the bedrooms scrubbing floors. She picked up the scent of the soap they used to get up any grime and stuff you clean floors off for. Never understood the point behind getting up dirt and dust. It's good for the skin or so Katara showed her one. She sensed a bouncing chef in the kitchen same with the food he was slaving away to cook in the fire. She felt every footstep of the guards patrolling the grounds at very intentional routes she could guess with ease. She brushed her hands against familiar walls and pillars from years ago. She still remembered each brick in every inch of this massive construct.

She scrunched her toes against the cool stone floor, concentrating for a familiar presence to reach out to. She found it quickly.

Iroh was in a large, warm room that opened into a courtyard that smelled lush, with a little pond in the center. He had a small book open on a short wooden table and knelt on two large, plush cushions. Toph grinned to herself. No matter where the man was living, his habits certainly didn't change. She felt him humming a gentle tone before she was close enough to hear it and even picked up the sound of fingers against parchment. She'd walked in on him in practically the same position in the Jasmine Dragon over the years.

"Toph!" He greeted warmly when she marched toward him. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

It was even the same greeting as always. "Iroh. I need somebody with functioning eyeballs. What are these?" She thrust the box his way.

For a minute, there was only the ruffling sound of paper. "Ah, they are applications!" More sounds of ruffling paper. "For your school. And it looks like you've-" more ruffling sounds. "Around four hundred. At most."

"Applications? I don't even require applications." She wondered who told anyone that she needed useless pieces of paper to get into her school.

"There's a complex immigration process into the Fire Nation at the moment," Iroh explained. "They need formal documentation to even be allowed in the capital city. An acceptance from you would fulfill that need I'm sure as an honored guest."

"Right," Toph groaned. She hated Fire Nation bureaucracy.

"You've a school already so how did your prior students apply?"

"At Ba Sing Se? The students kind of just - showed up, then did some bending for me, and of course, I only accepted the best."

"Of course." Iroh shifted to look at her. "But there were already many benders there. Here, an Earthbender would be highly inconvenienced to travel all this way."

Toph didn't judge them for not wanting to make the boat trip. Thoughts of her trip already made her head hurt and stomach churn. "Alright, fine. Read me one, or something."

"Hmm," Iroh mumbled. "Name: Ju-long. Age-"

Toph waved her hands. "Ack, no. How about- the most important parts. Do they talk about achievements or something? Life stories? Coolest thing they ever built out of rock?"

"Let me see. Ah - this young lady helped in her local zoo in the weekends!"

Toph rolled her eyes. "Pass."

Iroh's heart gave an amused jump. "Volunteer work shows much integrity of spirit, you know."

"Oh, I know. I voluntarily gave up my entire life to train the Avatar so I think I've her beat." Toph slumped to the ground and propped her feet on the table between them.

Iroh chuckled. "Good point. Okay, let's move on to the next one."

They sat there until it became cooler in the afternoon, and an attendant brought them warm bowls for dinner. Iroh dutifully scanned the applications, and Toph diligently waved almost all of them away. The rejection pile had grew quite large when Zuko found them, bringing with him a pungent smell of incense.

"Hard day, Fire Lord Zuko?" Iroh asked sympathetically.

"Yes. I've been meditating for hours and still just as frustrated," Zuko ground out through his teeth. He sat between them. Toph could feel his stress in the pull of his shoulders and his rigid, forced posture. "What are the two of you doing, anyway? Have you finally talked someone into learning origami, Uncle?" he asked quickly noticing the large stack of papers.

"Working our way through applications for the academy," Toph explained. "Although some of them would be better used for origami, I think. Or starting a campfire. That's why I brought them up here."

Zuko snorted. "This many people want to be tortured by you?"

Toph snorted back. "Never heard you complain."

"You've never tortured me, per se. You've just-" he was quiet a moment. "Oh wait, you've tortured me?"

She leaned up to punch his arm, and fell back into her position on the ground, feet back on the table.

Zuko smirked and leaned over to look at the stack. He pulled up a few and read them over. "See, what I have to put up with?" He shook a stack of infernal paperwork over her. Now she can feel his pain a little.

Toph pointed to her temple. "Literally, no." She grabbed the box of remaining applications and flung it towards him, box still abundant with paper. "Now get to work. What am I pay you for?"

"You don't and, what happened to "_you're the Fire Lord, you can afford to take a break sometimes?'_"

"That's only when sneaking off and spending the night with me was to my advantage, Sparky. Do try to keep up."

Iroh choked on his tea he had been sipping during the time. Zuko's pace rocketed, as he dutifully flipped open the paper. Toph sported a grin taking pleasure out this. "Um." Zuko coughed as he brought up the first application. He tried his best to ignore the looks his uncle was sending him. "This person said they climbed to a mountain to take a look at their town, and then decided it wasn't high enough, and built a bigger mountain beside it." He quickly shifted back to his work for her.

Toph quickly noticed his evasion tactics. After training Aang it was too obvious. Part of her wanted to continue further into that hole but this next application was calling her name. She flung her arms over her head. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Accepted!" She held her fist up as her sign of approval.

Zuko chuckled a bit. "If that's what it takes then your school is going to be full of maniacs. At least if there's a dramatic upswing of crime, I'll know where to look."

"Rude," she laughed. "Now stop being sore, come here, and get comfortable too. And next?"

Zuko shook his head to his Uncle who gave him an accusatory look. Uncle Iroh whom looked upon him then shifted his gaze from one full of amusement to something worse. Zuko felt it was curiosity.

"What are you waiting for, an invitation?"

Zuko sighed but relented. Under the scrutinizing gaze of his uncle, he pulled the box down to the tiled floor, and laid next to Toph. At her insistence he rested his head carelessly on her stomach. Her hand automatically lifted to play with his hair to which he flinched away from. Toph rose a brow but didn't dive into this reaction further, yet. She reached for his chin instead and wandered to his torso occasionally. Fire rose up to his cheeks at this gesture. He quickly swallowed it for the application in his hands.

"This person works in construction. They say the Avatar saved their village from an active volcano, which inspired them."

Toph rolled her eyes, running her short nails across his chin until they slipped up to his scalp once more. She quickly noticed the way his pace quickened when she did this. He didn't flinch away neither. "Playing the _'I Know the Avatar'_ card. Who do they think they are? Twinkletoes is ridiculously extroverted. He knows everyone."

"Is that a yes or a no?" Zuko asked softly. "I thought I was finished with work for the day."

"You slept in, especially for a Firebender. You can afford it."

Zuko sighed as he rested his head back further. "You relax me. And I woke up alone without you there. I was a bit disappointed," he admitted softly.

Toph felt her face heat up. "Then I guess, we'll just have to do it more."

There was a low, rumbling chuckle coming from his direction. "Yes please. But wake me up next time, I thought palace security was going to have a heart attack when I walked in this morning. Pass me another one as well."

"I might, I might not, Sparky."

They slowly made their way through the pile, and it wasn't until they were almost through that they noticed Iroh had given them the slip. Toph hadn't even felt him leave, and stewed briefly on the overweight man's ability to be so damn sneaky when he wanted to. That's the second time today someone's got under her senses. She supposed she's also distracted. Despite this, Toph and Zuko had made good progress. Twenty minutes later they had accumulated a small stack of accepted applications on the table ignorante of the set of eyes watching them.

Zuko groaned. "Am I finally free for the evening?"

"Yes," Toph replied. "Your functioning eyeballs are much appreciated."

"Lee?" Zuko called loudly, without bothering to lift his head. There were hurried footsteps, and an attendant who had been waiting in the hallway walked forward.

"Fire Lord?" He asked in surprise, surveying Zuko's head on Toph's stomach, presumably her feet resting comfortably on the table. Toph snickered loudly, playing with his hair, and the distinguished Fire Lord swatted away her hand.

"Messenger hawk these addresses at once that they have been accepted to Lady Beifong's academy in the Fire Nation capital. They should arrive for the grand opening, once the date is announced."

"Certainly, sir." He gathered the papers and with one last look at the two of them, left the room.

Toph flicked Zuko's ear. "Lady Beifong?"

He laughed loudly, to her surprise. "I'd turn to see the look on your face, but I'm too comfortable."

Toph was silent for a moment, feeling for Zuko. His back was still rigid, shoulders strained. He was clearly putting himself under a mountain of stress and for a fleeting instant, Toph regretted asking him to spend a free night dealing with her. But Zuko kept his head on her stomach, seemingly content to remain there, and she pushed the thought from her mind.

"So." She was no good at talking about feelings. "Have things been - difficult? Here?"

He sighed and she felt down for his face to find his eyes closed, a crease between his brow bones. "It's a lot of responsibility. Sometimes, I feel like I'm drowning."

"And you still like it?" Toph asked skeptically.

"Yes. I love it." He wasn't lying. "A lot of my work has paid off for the people and even Aang and Sokka have our project in the Earth Kingdom coming ahead."

"Yeah that city Sokka is designing and stuff." She even received a couple work orders to create metal beams and shape a couple buildings. Those statue molding skills came from somewhere. "So on top of that and your work as Fire lord, you're swamping yourself then." Toph reasoned together. That little city the guys have planned was a large reason why the metal bending academy at Ba Sing Se really took off. The demand for metal benders grew providing her plenty of students to train. She loved it even when it became more a job than an ambition. Because of that she could relate some to Zuko's plight.

'Maybe we both need to work out some steam,' she reasoned "When's the last time you practiced Firebending? If you need stress relief, I'd say that's the best way. I've also heard acupuncture is effective." She joked knowing where Zuko will lean towards.

Zuko shook his head. "I practice, but it's not enough. I need a sparring partner."

"You haven't found one?"

"People seem hesitant to attack the Fire Lord, for some strange reason."

"Well, I'm here now. And I've never been scared to fight you."

He laughed again. "That sounds great, Toph. Honestly." He sat up from her stomach, and groaned gripping his head. "But not tonight. I've had too much to do. I'm still working off the drink from last night too." He pushed himself to his feet, and pulled Toph to hers as well. "I'm going to turn in. Want me to walk you home?"

Toph wanted him to walk her home. She wanted him to stay with her, to curl around her on the mattress and keep her warm. She wanted to fall asleep with his arm around her waist like he'd done the last night. But she was struck by quite a rare bout of nerves. It's the type that made her stomach butterfly uncomfortably, and decided against it. "Nah." She waved that off missing the look of disappointment Zuko had. But she could feel a jittery change to his heartbeat.

"I…" she paused. She couldn't come up with something. Then, she had an idea. "You're coming to the academy's grand opening when it's all said and done, right?" She took a note from him earlier, changing the subject and evade it.

Zuko hesitated. "Toph, you've got that look on your face. That maniacal one."

"Just answer the damn question, Sparky!"

"Fine. Yes. As much as I'm now hesitant to do so. But what are you planning?"

"Just want to make sure the greatest Fire Lord of all time will be gracing us rock-chuckers with his esteemed presence." Toph pulled him in for a parting hug, feeling the familiar tangle of his fingers in her hair.

"I didn't know you held me in such high esteem," he muttered against the top of her head, pushing his lips into her hair.

Toph felt her face heat. The words of the Fire lady crossed her mind. "Don't flatter yourself. It's not a hard standard to beat."

A chuckle resounded from above. They stood there a minute more, entwined. When Zuko made to pull away, Toph's traitor hands moved of their own accord and caught the front of his robes, stopping him. Unconsciously, he leaned in just as she reeled him in. His fingers seemingly securing themselves almost around something precious.

"What is it?" He asked, his rough voice and tea-scented breath fluttering her lashes. She noticed the incremental tightening of his fingers in her hair and how his heartbeat had sped up to a galloping pace.

She swallowed to moisten her dry mouth. "Nothing. Just - cold, I guess. You infernal Fire Benders." She pushed him away, forcing a laugh. "Literally!"

She left with a wave and Zuko watched her with a familiar longing the two spectators recognized.

"They're closer than they'd admit. Enough for my son to spend his nights with her you say?" The Fire Lady spoke with her sleeve up to her lips to hide her smile.

"I don't think Toph meant it in an obscene way." Iroh chuckled. He pushed off the railing where they watched the two young ones converse.

"He lets his guard down around her. I've never seen him do that for any woman I've introduced him to after Mai," Ursa confessed. Her son is of marrying age and has been for years now, even before finding her and bringing her home. "After Mai I hoped to find him a good partner to help him. Maybe I was too impatient."

Iroh stoked his beard in through. "No, simply, promised pairs meet at their destined time. My nephew merely needed an equal to match him. He might have found it even though he probably wouldn't admit it."

"My son will before she would. he probably needs to for her to." Ursa sighed. "She's encased in an armor of stone that's unmovable, but stone takes only a little heat and ambition to crack though. Her actions betray her even now." Ursa watched her son watch Toph leave until she was out of sight and even then remained stationary. He rubbed his head exactly where she was massaging his scalp and sighed.

"What do you think of our little Earth Bender?" Iroh questioned.

Ursa pondered for a moment. "She's a fine young woman and looking forward to her tenacious presence. I know you both are, in your own ways." Ursa felt joy for her son and his position in the beginning of something wonder. But then she felt sorrow for the possibilities that could tear them apart. "Our curse, I pray it doesn't touch them like it did us."

Iroh felt and old wound once more and sighed. "I lost my family but gained it back and much more."

"I know and so have I, but to get to that darkest point, it took years to overcome." Those years as a prisoner of the Fire Lord, forced to abandon her children with that fiend, and living cursed by a spirit after being found once more. It's marked her soul and she'll never forget it or the nightmares that plague her still. The pain associated with losing everything, from her face to even her identity, branded her soul. Even now her skin tingles from the fiery touch of that spirit and her face feels off from the heat of its enchantment.

The curse that follows their bloodline, Ursa cupped her hands together in a silent prayer. "I'd do anything to protect my son from that same with my daughter."

The thoughts of Azula, her current position in the Earth Kingdom, rested in their minds and few others. "Despite what she's done I do worry for her," Iroh admitted. "But she's smart and will return when she's ready."

Ursa took a breath. "I pray it becomes so. I miss her dearly." Very few know of Azula's current whereabouts or exploits, same with her current goal. Her goal that surrounded her eldest sibling's future as the Fire Lord. She prays that once Azula hears word of this she stays her hand, but Azula is as much her daughter as his.

Without any knowledge of the words passed a short distances from her, Toph followed the familiar path from the palace and back to the house, flinging herself onto the delightfully firm mattress with a moan.

It was only after hours of shifting and tossing against the mattress, missing Zuko's warm body next to her, that Toph realized she just might be in trouble. She rested a hand on the place he laid on and curled up.

Zuko wandered the many familiar halls of the palace to help clear his head. Once they didn't work he headed back to this room and dropped onto his bed with a huff.

For hours throughout the night, one person was on their minds and there they stayed.

* * *

A/N: Welp, I've ended up failing in my desire to repost something untouched and instead forced to revise, rewrite, and expand instead. Once I started reading this chapter events shifted. I ended up turning the first half of the original into it's own chapter. I added in more possibilities for future chapters. That and I got caught as well by the original author. Ask me not to repost their work forcing me to make a redux of this story that follows a different direction. I wish to incorporate the comic, which I love to death, same with events that will lead to Legend of Korra. While I don't care for the next incarnation of the Avatar I do like the events that led to it. The creation of Republic City, the Police Force, and children as well.

When I first read this I loved it and the relationship the grew between them to include the lemon at the end. The challenge of expanding this into more years is exciting after all they can't stay in their teens forever. I hope my additions don't ruin it.

I need some reviews to gauge out this chapter to see if I'm on the right track. I'd greatly appreciate it.


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